"Randy N." <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My least favorite natural phenominon for riding would have to be hail-- One of Kansas's best
> arguments for wearing a helmet, and painful, even when only pea sized. At marble sized, it starts
> actually injuring you. And we sometimes get it golfball sized around here. That shatters
> windshields and makes the hapless car a unique peice of art.
Yes, Kansas has serious weather.
Growing up in Wichita, Kansas, I witnessed some amazing weather phenomena. I've ridden my DF road
bike into 40mph gusting headwinds - at about 1 mph - until it finally blew me backwards. On the way
back, with a 40mph tailwind, I hit speeds exceeding 55mph!
Tornados are absolutely commonplace in Wichita, particularly in the area of town where I grew up. We
used to stand in our yard and watch white tornados flick their tails lazily as they glided overhead.
It was eerily peaceful, with a strange yellow sky and calm winds that always mean "tornado" in
Kansas. I can't count the number of times that a tornado on the ground came within a few blocks of
our house. We got so used to it, that when The Big One - an F5 killer - finally hit in April 1991,
my grandparents (1 block away) almost decided not to go to the basement. Thankfully, they sought
shelter, because after decades of near-misses, the granddaddy of all tornados leveled my old
neighborhood, cutting a swath more than 1/4 mile wide. It was one of the largest tornados on record,
and it stayed on the ground for 46 miles, destroying hundreds of homes and killing 17 people.
Several weeks later, my grandmother received a slightly tattered and water-stained personal check
that she had written in Wichita. It was sent to her by someone living near Kansas City. The storm
cell had carried the little paper check for almost 200 miles!
Amazingly, though virtually every house in our neighborhood - including our immediate neighbors
house - was reduced to matchsticks, my parent's house was spared, with only minor roof damage.
http://www.andovernet.com/tornado/tornado/pages/looking_back.htm
http://www.austin360.com/shared/weather/tornadotracker/426911_vtornado.html
Back to the topic of hail: In 1992 - just one year after the huge tornado outbreak - a large
section of west Wichita was bombed by large hail. It shattered tempered glass shop windows,
destroyed large commercial signage, cars and damaged rooftops, etc. I drove through the area a few
days later. It looked like west Wichita had been bombed. It was like a Biblical plague. I can only
assume that any people who were caught in this storm on a bike would have almost certainly been
hospitalized if not killed. The storm produced baseball-sized hail, 80mph winds, and caused an
estimated $500 million in damage.
Here are some interesting hail factoids:
http://www.realcities.com/mld/realcities/news/weather/3269438.htm
Actually, one of the things that I remember fondly about Wichita was sitting outside and watching
summer storms roll in. It's an awesome display of nature's power.
-Barry
