I noticed the 7-day forecast for Wichita could essentially be summed up in three words: “Sunny and hot.”
That should come as no surprise to longtime residents. July is the sunniest month of the year in Wichita, according to data on Weather.com. The sun shines 76% of the time in Wichita in July, and 75% of the time in August. No other month is in the 70s.
You won’t be surprised to learn that the sun shines least during November, December and January – but even then it’s at least 57% of the time.
This year has not seen a distinct decline in the amount of sunshine, despite record-setting rainfall this spring. In fact, January saw the sun shine 69% of the time – an 11% increase over the month’s average – and May and June also saw the sun shine more than normal, according to the Wichita branch of the National Weather Service.
The Web site struckbylightning.org is tossing out the old “30-30″ rule for lightning safety and going with something much more simple: “When thunder roars, go indoors.”
I thought of that phrase Saturday when I saw families heading for the swimming pool or the ball park even as thunder rolled above.
According to the Web site, 16 people have been killed by lightning and another 179 have been injured around the country. That includes one death in Kansas and another seven injuries.
Sounds like the set-up for a punchline — but it’s not.
Researchers say that global warming could eventually lead to more kidney stones in much of the United States. Not only that, they calculate the direct and indirect costs of treating perhaps two million new kidney stone cases a year could climb $1 billion by 2050. That’s an increase of 25%.
Previous research has found that the risk of kidney stone formation increases when urine volume drops, which happens when a person is poorly hydrated. Global warming could increase the number of cases of kidney stones by 30%, researchers say. The projection is based on the theory that global warming will make people sweat more, and without proper hydration they will be at greater risk for kidney stones.
The researchers caution that if the risk increases directly with temperature, high-population coastal regions could see the largest jumps in the number of kidney stone cases. If, however, the risk suddenly climbs steeply at some threshold temperature, a band stretching from Kentucky to northern California would likely see the most new cases.
I was listening to a local newscast today when I heard the anchor say the tornado that struck Chapman on June 11 also hit Manhattan.
That’s simply not true. The same storm SYSTEM moved through Chapman and Manhattan, but not the same tornado.
Here are the tracks for the tornadoes that hit Manhattan, Chapman and Soldier that night, as provided by the Topeka office of the National Weather Service. Hopefully this will help put to bed any confusion that lingers about what struck where.
…at Kansas State University are likely to emerge from a presentation by university officials to the state legislature’s Joint Committee on State Building Construction today.
The meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. at the state capitol in Topeka, and is expected to include an update on damage caused by the June 11 tornado, as well as restoration work on the campus.
I’ll try to post information from the hearing as it becomes available.
…in honor of George Carlin, the legendary comedian who died recently, I offer a quip of his that I spotted in “The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said,” a book I found while browsing at a local bookstore.
Weather forecast for tonight: dark.
The wind is such a constant in Kansas we probably notice it most on those rare days when it’s not blowing. And if we’re honest with ourselves, we probably complain about the wind a lot – especially on those gray November and December days when it seems like a harsh north wind cuts right through to our bones.
But as I was working out at the family farm last week on one of those cloudless July days when the heat and humidity seemed to want to cook you from the inside out, I reflected on all those scorching summer days spent working in the fields when we would pause for a moment, grateful for a gust of south wind to take the edge off the heat.
Those breezes could make long afternoons on a swather or a tractor bearable (we didn’t have cabs on most of our field equipment), and moving irrigation pipe without a bit of wind could leave us feeling like we were toiling in a sauna.
I guess that’s why I cut the wind some slack during the late spring and summer. I imagine roofers, landscapers and construction workers, among others, can relate to my sentiments.
That may seem like a largely trivial question to most folks most of the time.
But it’s vital to ranchers trying to burn prairie grass in the spring, or farmers looking to burn field stubble after the crop has been harvested. It can even make a difference in events as seemingly inconsequential as a fireworks display, as I was reminded Friday night in Larned.
I was out at the family farm for one of our periodic “work weeks” when more than a dozen of us headed into town for the July 4th fireworks. We reached the park on the north edge of town and settled onto blankets and lawn chairs with our snow cones and bottles of water. The sun set beneath a cloudless sky and the light southeasterly wind took the edge off of what been a hot day.
The fireworks began illuminating the sky —- and the breeze carried the ashes and remnants of the shells right into the crowd. I found myself wishing I’d brought an umbrella. Fragments landed in my hair, next to my left eye, in my niece’s snow-cone cup and on bare arms and legs. They were not hot, thankfully, but it gave the festivities a gritty edge.
If the wind had been out of the south or southwest, the crowd would not have been given the unexpected shower. But we went home with some surprise souvenirs. A couple of my nieces went home thrilled with their keepsakes. Me? I’m thinking of buying some goggles for future fireworks displays to protect my eyes after that near miss.
….Wichita’s indisputably soggy.
As of July 1, 27.38 inches of rain has fallen at the official recording site next to Mid-Continent Airport on the southwest edge of the city. That’s 15.55 inches above normal —- or, to put it another way, more than double Wichita’s average for the first half of the year.
A few days of sunshine are providing some welcome drying for farmers wanting to harvest wheat and homeowners wanting to get or keep their basements dry….but it’s making firefighters a bit antsy. As grass and other vegetation dries, it becomes more vulnerable to the sparks of fireworks that are abundant as Independence Day nears.