Flyover People Daily News

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:   TUMBLING TUMBLEWEEDS Just as many of us like to roam across Kansas, Russian thistles, too, are full of wanderlust. I don’t think about tumbleweeds often, but was reminded of them on a recent trip to Dodge City with my friend Tracy Simmons. While the [...]

columns, Flyover Weather, landscape, nature, traveling, weather

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: VISITING HURRICANES Here in the Midwest, hurricanes don’t enter into our forecasts very often, but occasionally the remnants of one will pass over Kansas and drop some rain. Not Isaac. At a time when our land is so thirsty for precipitation, Isaac slighted us. The [...]

columns, Flyover Weather, life on the ground, sky, traveling, weather

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:   LUNCH AT AD ASTRA At Ad Astra, beneath the sounds of restaurant conversation and the clatter of silverware, came the voice of Bob Dylan. He sang “A hard rain’s a-gonna fall,” and although the song isn’t really about rain, that Saturday was indeed a [...]

columns, Flyover Weather, small towns, vittles, weather

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: Arkansas River, Wichita ENDLESS SUMMER When I woke up to the sound of rain last Tuesday, I felt as if I had awakened in another country. It was a great day – the air was chilly, and rain fell slowly and steadily all morning long. [...]

columns, Flyover Weather, life on the ground, nature, weather

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: Dried up dogwood leaves. ADJUSTING TO SUMMER In the evenings I often stand in the yard with a hose, watering the young trees, the shrubs, the hedge. Now I know I could just leave the hose on the ground for 10-20 minutes and let the [...]

columns, life on the ground, seasons, weather

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: The Langley Tornado, 4.14.12. Photo by Stephen Locke, used with permission. NIGHT OF A HUNDRED TORNADOES “I can easily recall the pungent scent of this tornado path,” Stephen Locke wrote. “Violent winds strip bark, blend grass, open the earth and liberate a cacophony of volatile [...]

columns, Flyover Weather, Kansans, seasons, weather

An inch of snow is our official total here. So far anyway. It’s still spitting out there, but I think that’s more of a freezing drizzle or freezing mist right now. We had enough snow to whiten the ground one day in November – a wet snow with huge flakes, but it was a warmish [...]

seasons, weather

(file photo – today is sunny and 48) Hey, yesterday, Feb 5, was National Weatherperson’s Day! (I meant to post this yesterday, but didn’t get it done.) Thank a weatherperson for his or her public service. The date commemorates the birth of John Jeffries, a Boston physician and one of America’s first weathermen. He was [...]

Kansans, on TV, weather

  Last Wednesday evening I drove to Wichita to a book launch at Watermark Books. “Kansas – in the Heart of Tornado Alley.” It’s a book of photos about Kansas’ tornadic history. From the Introduction: “The connection between the tornado and Kansas is as much about image and reputation as hard statistics.” While talking about [...]

events, history, Kansans, weather

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: NOVEMBER WIND The wind was so strong that I expected to see a few stripes being yanked from Old Glory and watch them whip away into the atmosphere. Stretched to its limit, a flag held onto a residential pole for dear life as raging gusts [...]

columns, life on the ground, seasons, weather

At 5 p.m., the storm clouds were building beyond the Emporia Farmers’ Market. The rain started about 6, followed almost immediately by small hail, followed immediately by this brief rainbow. Hail? This is October. But it’s also still short-sleeve shirt weather. It’s been in the 70s and 80s all month. I like that in an [...]

weather