Holiday travelers prepare for weekend storm system in Kansas

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Holiday travel is underway with Wednesday expected to be a busy day on the roads. With rain and snow in the forecast, some travelers are already thinking about their travel plans after Thanksgiving.

Adrian and Jay Potter own the Abilene Victorian Inn not far from I-70, and they are no strangers to helping travelers.

“When the weather gets really bad and they can’t go on, we kind of get last minute people,” Adrian said.

As confidence continues to grow that Kansas will see an impactful storm system this weekend, rain and snow chances mean potential road closures.

“We try to be as accommodating as possible and try to help people feel comfortable knowing that they’re in a predicament that they couldn’t really help, and they have a home away from home,” said Jay.

Travelers we spoke with on Tuesday said they aren’t too worried about the weather impacting their holiday travel ahead of Thanksgiving.

“I mean I looked at the weather app earlier this week and saw it was going to be raining, but the weather is always changing,” one traveler said.

Both those accommodating travelers and travelers themselves said the best thing you can do is to be prepared.

“Well, when you’re driving through Kansas, you just gotta know that things can change in an instant around here and you gotta plan ahead always, whether it’s 15 minutes before or 2 hours, or 2 days. You always gotta plan ahead,” another traveler said.

Jay said that as soon as you know things are changing to start planning.

“Make sure there is lodging ‘cause sometimes we get booked up when that happens and they’re surprised when they call and they find out we don’t have a room,” he said.

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Other ways to be prepared include fueling up and rearranging travel plans if needed.