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Image Courtesy of NOAA

            Freezing temperatures extended far into Southern Kansas causing damage to the winter wheat crop. In a report released by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, 43 percent of Kansas crops had experienced light to moderate freeze damage in mid-April. In the report released May 11, Kansas had reduced the freeze damage to 27 percent. Parts of the state impacted the most by the late freeze received cooler temperatures and moderate rainfall allowing the wheat to heal some of the damage caused.

            "In April, we were hit with a late freeze that even brought snow around to the area," said Yunker. "The heavy rain hasn't impacted Southern Kansas as much. The wheat is still green here and needs more rain to fully recover."

            The average rainfall for Kansas in April is 3.1 inches said the National Climate Prediction Center. This April, Kansas averaged more than 4 inches of rainfall. Parts of Kansas received locally heavier amounts in excess of 7 inches.

            "It's been a pretty rainy spring," said Richard McNulty, an atmospheric science lecturer at the University of Kansas. "It started raining fairly early and it's been tough to get any dry periods. I know if the farmers get too much rain, they can't get their crops planted."

            In the latest Kansas Crop Report issued by the NASS, only 48 percent of the corn crop has been planted. The five-year average reports that 76 percent is usually planted by this time. The report also said Kansas farmers have had only two workable field days in the past two weeks. During the same period last year, farmers had more than five days where fields were dry enough to work. Corn farmers in Kansas have been concerned over heavy rains after being unable to even plant crops this season.

            "Corn planting begins in April," Douglas County Extension Agent Bill Woods said. "Farmers are getting very nervous right now as they still have not been able to plant. Farmers who have not planted their corn crop by May 15 will lose one bushel for each day it is planted after that date."

Rainfall estimates across Kansas from Apr 26 -May3
Image Courtesy of the
 National Agricultural Statistics Service

            Kansas farmers are also concerned for the main crop of Kansas, wheat. Planting season for the winter wheat crop began in October of last year. The damage caused by flooding to the wheat crop is unknown. The Kansas Association of Wheat growers recently toured the state looking for damage caused by the late freeze and flooding. The association estimated an average yield of 40.8 bushels per acre by harvest season. The association also estimated a decrease of 17 million bushes of wheat this year. Kansas Association of Wheat Communications Specialist Bill Spiegel said he attributes the poor estimate to flooding from planting season last year.

            "Farmers who planted the winter wheat crop last fall did so extremely late," Spiegel said. "It was too wet to get out in the field, some even waited until November to plant. By that time, some farmers had given up on planting."

            Farmers have not stopped watching the skies even though the heavy rains have ceased. Harvesting season for the winter wheat crop beings in late June and early July when the skies dry up. Kansas farmers who have not had crops affected by heavy rains said they would be thankful for the rain then. The NASS weekly weather report said 42 percent of the state still has a surplus of topsoil moisture. Last year at this same time, only 25 percent of farms reported a surplus. Graduate student at Wichita State University Callie Bruey said she always helps at her parent's farm in Caldwell. While many farmers might be complaining about heavy rains, she believes they will be thankful by harvest season.

            "Crops down here haven't seen the heavy rains as much," Bruey said. "If we do get heavy rains, it really cuts back on field work. Hopefully when harvest season does roll around, the wheat won't be too wet to cut."

            The bell rings as 330 students flock into the hallways to escape the dungeon they call high school. At the end of the hallway, a room sits filled with posters of former students. Each poster has several pictures of students and their signatures ranging back to 1986. Two students sit in the classroom long after the bell has rung and hope to get straight answers from teacher Rod Smith.

            "When I plug this equation into the calculator, I get a different answer than I do when I do it by hand," one of the students said.

            "Well here is your problem," Smith replies. "This calculator was made in China."

            Rod Smith currently teaches high school chemistry, physics, and first year Spanish classes at Jefferson West High School in Meriden Kansas. He has taught at Jefferson West for 23 years and offers something most teachers do not, a money back guarantee. Smith personally guarantees a passing grade in college physics or he will personally pay $100 back to the student. Since 1986, none of his students has ever failed college physics.

            "There was one student who earned a "D" at Valapariso several years ago." Smith said. "At that time, I did not stipulate that students had to attend class in college to get my guarantee. He stopped going to class and realized 2/3 of the way through that he didn't want to be the first to fail."

Rod Smith in his classroom

            Smith also hands out money to students who correct him when he makes errors in class. He often hands out quarters for helping clean up after messy chemistry labs and for particularly tough problems. Smith said that by the time students reach high school money is a motivation.

            "When students win one of the many different contests, I give them a choice between immediate candy or delayed gratification by putting their name in a can to draw for $5 at the end of the month," Smith said. "I wish I could give more because education is money in the bank, waiting to be tapped later."

            Former physics student Tanner Hunt remembers the classes being hard but well worth it. Hunt said Smith was one of his favorite teachers from high school. He also remembers several pieces of advice from the classroom that he has thought about while at Kansas State University.

            "I remember he used to tell us to walk at a 'college pace' down the hallways for next year," Hunt said. "I think about his classes all the time. You don't realize it when you first get to college, but eventually you'll realize just how much you learned in high school compared to everyone else in your classes."

            Secretary Melanie Bostwick at Jefferson West High school said her daughters were both prepared for their college experiences.

            "Smith teaches the kids a lot of knowledge that you know they will use for the rest of their lives," Bostwick said.

            Other students remember Smith's appearance on certain days rather than what he taught. Rod Smith wears a bow tie to every home basketball game where he keeps score for the varsity teams. He says he has approximately 20 bow ties for various occasions. During cross-country season he works as an assistant coach. Students can hear the cowbell he wears to help inspire his runners all over school.

            "When you hear the bell, you knew when he was coming down the hallways," former student Brad McNary said.

            In 2002, Smith began taking a yearly trip with his physics students to Fermi National Accelerator Lab, Fermi Lab, in Illinois. Since the initial trip, the students and parents have raised money through fundraisers and concessions at the high school to pay for the trip at little to no cost from the school district.

            "My husband went on the trip and absolutely loved it. He talked about it for days after they got back. I think it was a learning experience for him as much as it was for the kids," Bostwick said.

            Smith said one of the big highlights during the year is the trip for many of the students. With the opening of the laboratory by the European Council of Nuclear Research, or CERN, next years physics trip is in limbo.

            "On our latest trip to Fermi Lab, they said CERN would be operational in 2010 and they would probably shut down the particle accelerator in Illinois. Until then, we will have to wait and see what happens," Smith said.

Card Rod Smith gives to former students.
He encourages former students to send in college advice to current students.

            Rod Smith is a great teacher now, but he did not always plan to become a teacher. Smith went to college at Wichita State University where he planned on becoming a journalist. He was a sports writer for the Wichita Eagle covering many local and statewide events. During summer break in 1974, he and a friend decided to bicycle their way from Wichita Kansas to Peru. When they reached the Mexico border, they hitched a ride with a bus full of students from Central Michigan State University. On the way into Mexico, he sat next to a girl named Karen Heady, reading the novel Christy. Little did he know, he was sitting next to his future wife.

            "We were on our way to Mexico for a Spanish culture class. It was to help us learn to speak Spanish and to see the Spanish way of life," Karen said.

            After departing from the group in Mexico City, Smith became seriously ill while staying at a KOA campground. Smith was rushed to a local hospital where he slipped into a coma for over two days.

            "I woke up, and found myself in the ER of the hospital. It was just cots side by side with about 15 or 20 patients in the room. I remember bits and parts while I was there of waking up to people shouting and getting carried in while I was in my coma," Smith said.

Upon waking, he discovered he was diabetic and was required to monitor his blood sugar level for the rest of his life. He lost over 35 pounds while staying at the hospital.

"They had a document and said this is what I had and it was all in Spanish. At the time, I didn't know what it said and just signed the release papers to go back home," Smith said.

After returning to Kansas, Smith had the document translated and found out he was diabetic. He learned what he needed to do monitor his blood sugar level and wrote about his experience for the paper.

"After I wrote my article, I didn't feel well and noticed some things. Since I was still new to the diabetic thing, I went back to the doctors. They came in asked some questions about what was wrong and left. A little while later, a nurse comes in and has a mask on," Smith said. "It turns out I had hepatitis from the hospital in Mexico."

After his trip in Mexico, he received a letter from the girl on the bus telling him how her novel ended. He found out she was graduating from CMSU but could not find a teaching job in Michigan.

"I had applied to what seems like all over the country," Karen said. "He told me that some teaching jobs were open in Kansas and that is where I really got to know him."

Karen started teaching elementary school during the day while Smith wrote sports articles at night. Rod and Karen decided their current relationship would not work given their working hours. After discussing options, Smith decided to switch majors to teaching as well.

"I had taken a wide variety of classes, and the advisors asked me if I had ever thought of teaching for a living," Smith said.

Smith received his Bachelor of Arts from Wichita State University, and later a Masters Degree from the University of Kansas. He continues his education by taking college classes during the summer with his wife Karen Heady-Smith. Smith has taken classes from 14 different colleges and universities around the country. In 32 years, he has only failed to take a summer class once. When he is not in summer classes, he spends them traveling the world with his wife.

"My favorite place we've been to is Auckland New Zealand. I absolutely love traveling all over the world during the summer," Karen said. 

This summer, Rod Smith plans to take an economics class through Emporia State University. He also plans to travel to Africa and bungee jump off a bridge near Victoria Falls.

"I love to bungee jump. Every year I show my physics class the video of my first jump and then we discuss the physics of the jump. If the physics makes sense, then there's no reason to worry," Smith said.

Smith and his wife currently teach at Jefferson West and have over 40 years of teaching experience between them. He is currently certified to teach Spanish, chemistry, physics, general science, computer science, social studies, and general math.

"I love to learn new things. What better place to learn than through teaching at school," Smith said.

Douglas County begins preparation in March for the severe weather expected during spring.

            The National Weather Service in Topeka recorded 46 storm reports from Douglas County in 2008. Among the reports, three consisted of confirmed tornado touchdowns resulting in over $250,000 in property damage. Douglas County saw no reports of injuries or deaths from severe weather last year, a trend the Department of Emergency Management would like to continue. 

            "We try to warn people well in advance of any weather situations through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association radios, text messages, tornado sirens, and media outlets to prevent injuries or deaths," Assistant Emergency Management Director Jillian Blair said.   

A storm rolls over KU campus

            Douglas County currently has 35 tornado sirens of which 21 exist inside the Lawrence city limits. The current policy says the sirens are activated if a tornado warning is issued by the weather service or a local determination of a tornado exists. To ensure all the sirens are working, countywide tests are done every first and third Monday from March through July.

              "We also do additional tests by computer to check the batteries and standard operation at 9 a.m. every morning," Blair said. "Every other year we also replace the batteries in all of the sirens. These are only used if lightning strikes and power is knocked out to the sirens. Thankfully, it has only happened once during a storm last year."

            During the last two years, the NOAA has used a strong advertising campaign to spread the word about purchasing a weather radio. Blair compares the weather radio to a smoke detector saying, "The radios are like smoke detectors of severe storms." Residents in Douglas County can purchase weather radios from the Department of Emergency Management for $30. The weather service also advises in purchasing a weather radio instead of using tornado sirens as indicators of when to take cover.

            "The weather radios are a significant help to us in spreading the message about the warnings we issue," National Weather Service Meteorologist George Phillips said. "The hardest time to find a weather radio for sale is right after a big significant weather event. Unfortunately, we would like every resident to have one on hand before the event even occurs."

            The National Weather Service is also preparing for its storm season by offering lectures and training seminars for severe weather. Lawrence has an seminar offered on March 26, 2009 at the Arts Center downtown. Over 2,000 people will attend storm spotter training seminars by the end of this year. Smaller, less populated counties in Kansas will attract around 20 spotters. Larger cities such as Topeka, Lawrence, and Manhattan will see much larger turnouts of about 200 future spotters.

            "Manhattan will actually see the greatest turnout for training this year. Already we have had a significant interest in the meeting due to last year's tornado outbreak that affected Chapman and Manhattan," Phillips said.

            Storm spotters help during severe weather outbreaks by reporting to local emergency services or directly to the National Weather Service. The seminars last about an hour and are taught by meteorologists from the Topeka office. During training, spotters will learn characteristics of tornados, cloud formations, and proper measuring techniques. This year, more advanced topics will be covered such as identifying possible development of severe storms and characteristics of severe storms. The National Weather Service says storm reports from trained spotters have more reliability than those from the public.

            "When we get a report from the public, we will usually try and verify it either with radar or by official storm spotters with experience. When a trained spotter reports in, especially one with experience, we are more likely to take the report as solid information without too much review," Phillips said. "Usually the reports from the public without training might not know exactly what they're seeing or might not be able to tell the difference between a scary looking cloud and something that is truly severe."

            Last year, the National Weather Service adopted polygon based warning systems to accurately depict where the severe weather threat is. Using the Geographical Information System, the weather service can draw polygons over parts of counties that are included in a severe threat instead of the entire county. Douglas County Emergency Management uses the new polygon based warning system to sound off tornado sirens only in the part of the county affected.

            "Over the last few years, we have seen a significant decrease in the number of complaints due to the new warning system. We really try to stay with technology in getting the warnings out. In the past, we used to rely solely on local media and tornado sirens. Currently we can get warnings out through NOAA radios, text products, the internet, pages, text messages on cell phones, and the media still," Phillips said.

            The National Weather Service and Douglas County Emergency Management promise to spread the information about severe weather. But, they also stress the importance of using that information and being able to react in a timely manner. Chief Meteorologist Jeremy Goodwin for WIBW-TV in Topeka stresses that it's up to the public to react and stay safe during severe weather.

            "Viewers must prepare for dangerous weather and be ready to act. They also must keep an eye on the television, or radio to keep track of what dangerous weather may be in their area. Most weather related fatalities could be prevented," Goodwin said. "A meteorologist can only pass on the message. It's up to the public to use that message to make smart decisions."