Week's second storm makes its way through Missouri

The second storm of the week moved through the Central Plains Wednesday, working its way across Kansas and into Missouri as snow continued to fall this morning, prompting a number of schools to either call off classes or start them late.

In Vernon County, Sheldon, Bronaugh, and Northeast Vernon County schools closed, and nearby Liberal schools closed as well. Nevada's Cedar Ridge school closed today, and several community events were cancelled.

Some schools in the southwest corner of Kansas, including those in Cimarron, Dighton, Holcomb, Scott City and Tribune, didn't have classes on Wednesday, and evening events were cancelled in other areas, including Wichita, where Wichita State University cancelled night classes.

Further to the north and east, most school districts in the greater Kansas City area were not having classes Thursday, among them those in Kansas City, Mo., and the Shawnee Mission, Olathe and Blue Valley districts on the Kansas side of the state line and dozens of districts in Missouri.

The National Weather Service in Springfield said a large area of precipitation over Arkansas was tracking northward. It said that with surface temperatures at or just below freezing and a warm air layer aloft, a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain was likely over south central Missouri.

Vernon Countians woke up to temperatures hovering at the freezing mark, and the combination of snow and partially melted ice already on roads, covered by the still-falling new precipitation made for treacherous travel last night and this morning. Several accidents, some of them resulting in injuries, were reported, including a one-vehicle tractor-trailer accident on U.S. 71 Highway at State Route BB that sent the driver, 60-year-old Stephen Pyle of Fort Scott, to the hospital as the storm began yesterday afternoon. Later on, the driver of another tractor-trailer slid off U.S. 71 Highway just south of Rich Hill, and another accident on the same highway shut down traffic for a short length of time.

Reports of traffic accidents continued this morning in Nevada, near Deerfield and in other areas in Vernon County; however, details were not available at press time this morning. So far, no fatalities were reported.

Forecasters said additional snow of up to 2 inches was possible through Thursday morning, with ice accumulating as well. They said total snow accumulations in the southwestern region of the state were expected to range between 5 and 9 inches by Thursday afternoon.

The weather service said a few areas of thundersnow developed in parts of southern Missouri near the Arkansas border, bringing a quick 3 to 5 inches of snow to areas from Gainesville to West Plains.

Some areas east of Branson had 6 inches of snow before midnight.

Trooper Gary Warner of the Kansas Highway Patrol reported troopers noticed children sledding in illegal and dangerous places near major highways. He said he counted about 50 children, many of them accompanied by parents, sledding near an Interstate 235 interchange northwest of Wichita.

''It is a widespread problem,'' he said. ''Our biggest concern is the safety issue. It's incredibly dangerous to be in an area where traffic's moving by at a high rate of speed.''