Winter's Last Smackdown

Two days before the first day of spring, the temperature in Herington, Kansas, at 7 PM was around 54 degrees (F). 24 hours later at the same time it was around 23 degrees (F) while tossing a couple of inches of freezing rain that would shortly turn into almost blizzard conditions. The first day of spring in Kansas saw spring weather retreat to make way for another day of full blown winter with snow depths anywhere from 1.5 inches to 7 inches, depending on what part of the state you were in.

Over the past two weeks, Kansas has seen more warm weather than anything else and between the flowers starting to bloom, insects buzzing around and temperatures close to 70 it looked and felt as if spring was not going to wait to settle in.

Freezing rain began Friday late afternoon in some places and was accompanied by major wind, frigid temperatures and, of course lots of white stuff. Roads were slick, traffic was sparse when possible but there were still accidents and spin outs in the larger areas.

Wind chills kept most of the state temperatures feeling like they were in the mid teens. Wind gusts ranged from 20 MPH to 45 MPH, depending where you were and it seems that the wind speed hovered around 15-20 MPH almost everywhere.

Icicles hang off of almost every house in sight and the wind makes it too cold to spend much time out of doors. Road crews have spread more salt on the roads. Flowers that had begun to bloom are rethinking their timing. Birds that had begun to excavate worms from the ground are wondering where the ground went, hopping down the sidewalks looking for the grass they enjoyed 36 hours ago.

Two Kansas basketball teams have been playing in Oklahoma City and are dealing with the nasty weather there as well.

The one thing everybody agrees on is that winter has hung on too long and we are all wanting to see it end.

The temperatures on Sunday are expected to stay fairly cold with a wind chill that will keep people indoors. It will supposedly be the last cold day we will have to endure for the Winter season of 2009-2010.

Monday should be bringing warmer temperatures back to the Plains according to local weather forecasts. Gardens are waiting to be planted and the trees are anxious for new leaves. Some are even looking forward to having to mow the lawn...anything to get back to warmer weather.

This last blast of winter has caused problems in at least three states...Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Not only have there been traffic accidents but there have also been at least three fatalities attributed to the bad weather.

May the snow and chill be gone. It is time for the seasons to change.