High winds accompanying a late-winter storm that brought light snow left thousands without electrical power Wednesday morning in northeast Kansas.

As of 4:50 a.m., power outages were affecting 2,640 homes and businesses in the Lawrence area, 920 in the Topeka area and more than 61,000 of the customers the electrical utility Evergy serves in Kansas and Missouri, Evergy reported on an online outage map it maintains.

By 8 a.m.., Evergy reported the number of homes and businesses affected had risen to 5,707 in the Lawrence area, dropped to 856 in the Topeka area and decreased to 33,476 for its coverage area.

High winds kicked up late Tuesday afternoon

High winds kicked up beginning late Tuesday afternoon in northeast Kansas, with maximum wind gust readings at Topeka rising from 13 mph about 4 p.m.. to 22 mph about 5 p.m., 38 mph about 6 p.m. and 47 mph about 7 p.m.

The weather service Tuesday evening reported gusts of the following:

•  70 mph four miles south/southwest of Sabetha in Nemaha County and three miles east of Jarbalo in Leavenworth County.

•  69 mph three miles east/northeast of New Cambria in Saline County in north-central Kansas.

•  65 mph six miles south/southwest of Centralia in Nemaha County.

•  And 61 mph five miles north/northeast of Lawrence and three miles east/northeast of Topeka.

Meanwhile, rain that had been falling during the day Tuesday turned to snow early that evening.

Wind, snow brought blizzard conditions

The wind and snow combined to temporarily cause whiteout conditions late Tuesday four miles east of St. Marys in Pottawatomie County, the weather service reported on the website of its Topeka office.

Visibility fell to one-half mile late Tuesday three miles east/northeast of Topeka, it said.

The weather service recorded 1.2 inches of snow late Tuesday and Wednesday at its Topeka office in northeast Topeka near Philip Billard Municipal Airport, said Matt Wolters, a meteorologist with that office.

Other snowfall readings included 1.6 inches at Seneca, 1.5 inches two miles south/southeast of Ozawkie in Jefferson County and 1.3 inches seven miles west/southwest of Topeka.

Sheriff’s office implements accident reporting procedure

Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill announced at 6:40 a.m. Wednesday that because of road conditions, his office was implementing its Phase III accident reporting procedure.

During that phase, deputies respond only to scenes of crashes involving injury, possible injury or death; potentially impaired drivers; hit-and-run drivers; disturbances; hazardous materials; major traffic congestion; or enough damage to require a vehicle to be towed.

Drivers were directed to report all other crashes at their earliest convenience at sheriff’s office headquarters at the Law Enforcement Center, 320 S. Kansas Ave.

What’s next?

High winds continued Wednesday morning, with the weather service reporting gusts of up to 56 mph at 4 a.m. at its office in Topeka.

However, a high wind warning issued for the area was set to expire at noon Wednesday.

Winds were predicted Wednesday morning to come from the northwest at 25 to 30 mph, with gusts of up to 50 mph, then decrease Wednesday afternoon to 15 to 20 mph.

Forecasters predicted Wednesday morning would bring Topeka mostly cloudy skies, which would clear up in the afternoon.

Topeka’s high temperature Wednesday was predicted to be about 42 degrees.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.