Freezing drizzle combined with heavy traffic volumes four days before Christmas are making for some miserable traffic conditions in Wichita on Wednesday afternoon.
Most of the traffic accidents appeared to be on elevated roadways, as freezing fog late in the morning gave way to light freezing drizzle in the afternoon. There was also some scattered light snow in the area.
This is all in advance of an arctic system that will plunge temperatures and wind chills as the day progresses into Thursday.
Things got especially bad on the northwest side of town, as motorists were asked to avoid the intersection of 21st Street & Zoo Boulevard; a series of accidents in the area caused traffic to back up for at least two miles.
Appropriately enough, the winter solstice occurs at 3:47 p.m. Wednesday.