Worse Than Reported
I minimized the awfulness of the weather report yesterday. Today's paper reports that Hutchinson had the nation's hottest temperature yesterday at 112 degrees. That was the reading at both 5:00 and 6:00. This temperature broke the previous record for Hutchinson for this date by four degrees. The old record has stood since 1980.
The temperature yesterday also tied the all-time high for Kansas, which also occurred in 1980, on July 10.
Anyone who lived in Kansas in 1980 and was old enough to make memories, remembers that scorcher of a summer. With perhaps one exception (missing it by a degree or two), every day in July that year saw triple digit temperatures. On a number of those days, the high was almost 110.
The temperature was already over 100 yesterday at 10:00. On our way to the car to head for church, I said a thank you prayer that our church now has air conditioning. That was not the case in 1980.
As I said in yesterday's post, we are still outside the "Excessive Heat" warned area, probably for several reasons. One, the predicted high for yesterday was below the mark, so the weather service apparently didn't see it coming. Two, I suspect it was less humid here than it was south and east of us where the "Excessive Heat" warning was in effect. When I checked in the afternoon, we were at 20 % humidity.
I wasn't encouraged by the way the news article in today's paper summed up the situation by quoting a meteorologist: . . . temperatures in south central Kansas will probably be 103-105 today, then around 100 on Tuesday and Wednesday before warming up as high as 105 on Thursday and Friday. There's no end in sight. . . .
Grant said at noon that he heard an agronomist for this area say this morning that he doesn't think there will be a single acre of dry land corn harvested here this year. I hope he's wrong.
On the NOAA site, the most recently published drought monitor map shows our area to be in extreme drought. The next higher and most extreme situation of all has crept into southern Kansas, in Harper County, which is designated as being in exceptional drought.
All this is enough to add some real fervor to the prayers that are and will be ascending.
The temperature yesterday also tied the all-time high for Kansas, which also occurred in 1980, on July 10.
Anyone who lived in Kansas in 1980 and was old enough to make memories, remembers that scorcher of a summer. With perhaps one exception (missing it by a degree or two), every day in July that year saw triple digit temperatures. On a number of those days, the high was almost 110.
The temperature was already over 100 yesterday at 10:00. On our way to the car to head for church, I said a thank you prayer that our church now has air conditioning. That was not the case in 1980.
As I said in yesterday's post, we are still outside the "Excessive Heat" warned area, probably for several reasons. One, the predicted high for yesterday was below the mark, so the weather service apparently didn't see it coming. Two, I suspect it was less humid here than it was south and east of us where the "Excessive Heat" warning was in effect. When I checked in the afternoon, we were at 20 % humidity.
I wasn't encouraged by the way the news article in today's paper summed up the situation by quoting a meteorologist: . . . temperatures in south central Kansas will probably be 103-105 today, then around 100 on Tuesday and Wednesday before warming up as high as 105 on Thursday and Friday. There's no end in sight. . . .
Grant said at noon that he heard an agronomist for this area say this morning that he doesn't think there will be a single acre of dry land corn harvested here this year. I hope he's wrong.
On the NOAA site, the most recently published drought monitor map shows our area to be in extreme drought. The next higher and most extreme situation of all has crept into southern Kansas, in Harper County, which is designated as being in exceptional drought.
All this is enough to add some real fervor to the prayers that are and will be ascending.
posted by Mrs. I at
11:37 AM
3 Comments:
I moved to Kansas in May of 1980. My parents come to KS in July for Raymond Wagler's funeral, which was also their first visit out here. My Dad tells the story how it seemed the a/c in the van wasn't working right. The van just seemed too warm. When they arrived in Hutchison and stepped out of the van, Dad said he knew then that the a/c was working hard. He saw a thermometer that read 113* in the shade. At that point, he and Mom were both wondering what sort of place this was that Cliff had moved their daughter to live.
~Sue
By
Anonymous, at 7/11/2011
I think the official Hutchinson temperature is based on what is recorded at the airport. I can easily believe that there would be some variation elsewhere in the city.
By
Mrs. I, at 7/11/2011
Our thermometer showed 113.9 for a short while Sun. then came down to 112.9 for a good while. It's not in the sun...! We heard 115 recorded in Hutch. Angelo said, "that is like Sudan! (Where he lived for 2 yrs.)
I remember the hot July of 1980. We had come home form El Salvador, Angelo was a baby, and the houses did not have a/c... somehow we survived! I am so grateful for the a/c we have now.
By
Susanna, at 7/12/2011
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