Kansas weather: As wacky as it seems?

By JESSALYN KIRCHOFF
Tiger Media Network

Those native to Kansas can expect the absolute worst from the state’s midwestern weather patterns. It can be raining while the sun is out, 25 mph winds with baseball-sized hail, and 80 degrees with snow melting on the ground – all on a casual Wednesday in September. However, a large portion of the Fort Hays State University on-campus students are not from Kansas, let alone the midwest, and are not accustomed to the unpredictability.

Samantha Brown, the warning coordination meteorologist at NWS Dodge City, is also new to the area. Brown recently moved to Kansas and has been here for three months. She received her Bachelor in Meteorology paired with a minor in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at Virginia Tech. She then made her way to East Carolina University for her master’s. After she was finished with her schooling, she landed the job at the National Weather Service in Memphis, Tennessee for four years and came to Dodge City as the Warning Coordination Meteorologist in early August of this year.

Even though Brown is new to the area, she is quickly getting the hang of Kansas weather. 

“Weather is always changing. There are a lot of small-scale and large-scale factors that dictate Kansas weather,” she said. “Our average temperature ranges from the lower 50s to upper 60s for the month of October, but those small-scale influences play a huge factor in our weather.”

According to Brown, weather in Kasnas is greatly influenced by the mountains in Colorado. 

“So there’s a lot of different weather here in Kansas,” she said. “Thankfully, we usually get all four seasons – spring, summer, fall, and winter) thanks to our weather patterns.”

Although Kansas does experience all four seasons – sometimes in a very short amount of time  – Brown said that fall weather is officially on the way.

“Thankfully, those high temperatures broke as a cold front moved through,” she said. “As far as fall, we’re hoping fall comes too, but expect temperatures to become more normal by November.”

While fall weather brings about pumpkin-spice treats and sweater weather, it also brings something else entirely: severe weather season.

“Severe weather season is my favorite,” Brown said. “When it comes to severe weather everyone plays a role, from the media to the public. You really see people working together to help protect lives and property when severe weather strikes.”

In addition to severe weather season, Brown also wants to alert Kansans of another potentially dangerous weather pattern: wildfires. 

“Fire weather is a huge concern this time of year,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of rain this season so there’s tons of ‘fire fuels.’ If fire weather is a concern for that day, please resist burning anything.”

More information on local weather can be found on the National Weather Service website for Dodge City at https://www.weather.gov/ddc/ or by reaching out directly through their email at nws.dodgecity@noaa.gov.