The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-09
WINDY, YES
But Kansas Cannot Be Called a
Tornado State.
Other Parts of Country ''BIOw"
Harder Than Here.
FEW DROUTHS REGISTERED
They're Confined Mostly to
Western Part of State.
And the HeaIth-Giving Sun
shine-Ah, It's Here!

That Kansas suffers no more from
tornadoeS than. do sister states; that
the state receives more health-g1V1ng
sunshine than do any of the states
between it and the Atlantic, more, in
fact, than the Sunny Southland; that
rainfall for much of the state is equal
to that of many nearby states, and is
better distributed over the growing
period are the facts from dispassion-
ate weather bureau figures marshaled
for the teachers of the Geography
round table this afternoon, by S. d.
Flora, of Topeka, state meteorologist-
1T is probable" says Mr.. Flora,
that a great deal of the well known
energy and enterprise characteristic
of Kansans can be attributed to the
invigorating effect of its climate, es-
pecially the cold, dry air that sweeps
across the state in winter"
Mr.. Flora declared that the climate
of Kansas is one that will do more to
cure tuberculosis, if the patient is
given even reasonably good care, than
will the climate of famed southwest
ern health resort states with indiffer-
ent care.
Not a Tornado State.
Discussing the oft-repeated asser-
ton that Kansas is a tornado state"
Mr.. Flora cited weather bureau rec
ordS and then declared that for any
specific farm a mile square the proba-
oll1ty OF its being visited by a tornado
is less than one-sixteenth of one per
cent per century.
"a compilation by the weather bu-
reau of great disasters attributed to
tornadoes in various parts of the Unit
ed States shows that none of these oc-
Cured in Kansas
1T is true that drouths occur from
time to time in Kansas. but by far the
greater number of them are confined
to the western counties, where the
chlef crops are those that can be pro-
duced with light precipitation. Wealth
er bureau figures show, however, that
during the growing seasons in the
eastern part of the state drouthS are
scarcely more frequent than in Iowa,
England states, and less freonent
than over most of Wisconsin, and yet
we hear of .Drouthy Kansas but the
title is not given other states
Reputation as Windy
kansas has a reputation for being
windy state, yet as a matter of fact.
the weather bureau records show the
winds of the eastern half of the state.
are not noticeably greater than are
those of Illinois, Indiana or Ohio,<and
are less than those of<Michigan; and
western Kansas is not as windy as
of Texas.a
Examination of records covering
period of forty years show that in
general there. has been no change in
lfe amount OF annual rainfall; and
there has been no perceptible change
in the velocity of the wind
Another common delusion about
Kansas weather." continued Mr. Flora,
is that the winters are becominS
milder and the drouths less fire.
quent. Unfeeling statistics disprove
the belief. 1t is a common tendency
20 remember the cold winter of years
ago, when the snow lay on the ground
from Christmas until spring; and to
remember the drouth that withered
fhe corn, but we forget the many
average winters, and the years with
bountiful crops. Early settlers, poor
ly protected, undoubtedly suffered
more from the cold than do the resi-
dents of today, and this condition has
given rise to the belief that conditions
have changed