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| Looks mostly harmless here, but what will it become? |
Wake up, it's hot. Go outside, you sweat. Come about 3 p.m., be prepared to get rained on. On and on it went, for a good couple of months. You might have a hurricane at some point, but it will have a name and you'll have been watching it for days.
Kansas? Don't even try to guess what it will do.
Last year on July 28, 2012, our temperature was 107 degrees and we were in the midst of a severe drought. Both 2011 and 2012 were in the top 10 years with total days over 100 degrees and the top 10 years with the greatest number of consecutive days over 100.
This year on July 28, our high was 66 (and not enough 100-degree days so far to even talk about) and it has been raining off and on for DAYS. We got another deluge this morning.
Beyond that, we got baseball-sized hail here in my little town last week that took out car windows, home and building windows, siding, roofs, outdoor furniture and many, many garden plants. There's a story here about worse damage the storm did elsewhere that day. Grapefruit-sized hail. Hospital windows blown out and patients moved. Walmart's and the mall's sky lights blown out. Cars beat down until they were totaled by insurance companies.
The thing is, every big looming cloud is cause for concern. What dangers lurk within it? Tornado? Big hail? Freak winds? Flash-flood rains?
Weird things happen in Kansas a lot. Temperatures plummeting or rising freakishly fast, like a heat burst that occurred in Wichita in 2011. Microbursts of wind destroying a single home.
So when we see clouds like the ones I photographed on the way home from Colorado the other day, we get a little nervous. This particular storm did no damage, but its buddy the following day was responsible for all that hail. You just never know.
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| Rainbow is pretty, but I do not like the looks of it. |
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| The skies are ominous and we can only wait and watch. |
Posts
Those photos look scary but pretty at the same time. We live in the midwest too and weather is so unpredictable!
ReplyDeleteWhere at in the Midwest? It can be scary some days! Everywhere I've lived there is something - earthquake in Utah, hurricanes in Florida - but nothing so unpredictable as here.
DeleteI live in FL now and you described the weather down here perfectly. Six months of wet weather and 6 months of basically pretty nice dry weather.
ReplyDeleteBut, I lived most of my life in Missouri and its a lot like Kansas weather in the spring to late summer. HOT and HUMID!!!!! And watch out for the tornadoes.
So you know both kinds of weather too! Very, very different. I still think Missouri is more humid than Florida!
DeleteYes, pretty typical of MidWest weather. Illinois is much the same.
ReplyDeleteWe have to be pretty hearty out here I guess :)
DeleteWow! Those pictures are amazing! I'm not sure I could live in a place like that though. I freak out enough where we are and we seldom get anything serious.
ReplyDeleteYou're lucky! I guess we just get used to it. When we see something like what happened in Oklahoma, it makes us all in the Midwest a little jumpier.
DeleteI've lived in Kansas all of my life and so am used to it. Somehow, we just know if a cloud or storm has potential for damage or not so I don't concern my self with it. We have our tornado preparedness in the basement and know to go there if it looks like possible issues.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you mentioned Florida. I had a couple of my business locations in Tampa and Clearwater and would go down there for a month or two and a time and was always happy to get back to Kansas.
The Florida weather was just too much the same all the time.
LOL
Isn't it funny how we get used to something.
:-)
Kathy
kathyhadleylifecoach.com
I wish I had that sixth sense about storms, but they all look ominous to me, LOL! What worries me the most is when my son is at school or something, away from me. Yes, in Florida whole years would pass by without you knowing because the weather was the same! You categorize the years by the hurricanes that hit.
DeleteI found your site through another blog where this post was linked from in a comment. I live in Kansas as well and know exactly what you're talking about in regards to the weather!!
ReplyDeleteWelcome, nice to meet a fellow Kansan! What part are you in? We're in central. There has been some crazy weather this summer compared to last.
DeleteIf you think Kansas is bad you need to come to CO. Even the weathermen don't get it right. It seems like we have at least 3 seasons in one day. Totally weird. I'm a NYer so I'm still trying to get used to it.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I can imagine that's true. You have even more to content with out there with the mountains and even heavier snow than here. We had a 14-incher this year, wow! And New York is something different altogether too! I always said in most places I've lived - FL, SC and Utah - the weathermen got it somewhat right. In Kansas, just forget it. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, sometimes they are 10+ degrees off or more. And sometimes they don't see it coming at all.
DeleteIt looks magnificent but I can understand your being worried just looking at those clouds!
ReplyDeleteIt really is beautiful in its own way.
DeleteHaving grown up in Colorado and traveling across NB many many times, I totally get what you are saying. The weather can change in a very short time, just as it does here on the MN prairie! That one picture with the rainbow is a little unsettling, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteVery interesting read and thanks for sharing!
~Heather @ The Welcoming House Blog
The Minnesota prairie, that just sounds so pretty and one state I've not been to. Yes, the beauty of a rainbow backset with menacing clouds *shiver*
DeleteTotally understand the confusing weather. I live in Ohio, where all 4 seasons happen in the same week on a fairly regular basis (though thankfully no snow since May.) Right now it's September :-)
ReplyDeleteThat is so strange when you're in shorts one day and a coat the next! We haven't had snow since May either but the way it's going, it wouldn't surprise me too much! We just said yesterday it's like it's late Sept. or early Oct. here. So strange!
DeleteBoy, can I relate. Try making sure your kids are dressed right for the weather, right? LAYERS!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, layers are awesome! And I always carrying hats, gloves, scarves and extra coats in the trunk all year round! The worst part with Brady is once the snow boots come out he doesn't want to wear anything else, no matter the weather.
DeleteHi Steph. We lived in the Panhandle of Texas for 18 1/2 years! I know exactly what you mean about the weather.
ReplyDeleteRe