Go Kansas!

[Scott Weberpal]

Ok, time to bring out the big guns now...

HS graduation rate: [FONT=Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif,sans-serif]Wisconsin[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif,sans-serif] 85 [/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif,sans-serif]Kansas[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif,sans-serif][SIZE=-2] 76 (http://www.manhattan-institute.org)

Poverty rate: Wisconsin 10.4 Kansas 12.3 (www.nemw.org)

Violent Crime Rate (per 100,000): Wisconsin 290.9 Kansas 452.7 (US Dept. of Justice)

Professional sports championships: Wisconsin 13 Kansas...umm

Better beer: Wisconsin 1 Kansas 0

You win in the category we all care about...tornadoes!

Ah, it's all in good fun
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[Tim Segraves]

Hey, there may not be too much great beer in KS but as a native I feel I must defend my flat friend to the east! Free State beer in Lawrence (Rock Chalk) is still some of the best I've ever had and I've had some of the new Tallgrass beer from Manhattan is pretty good (even if it is brewed with dirty wildcat water).

Of course Colorado Beer > *

 

[Leah Robertson]

This thread is sooo going to the Chaser Bar & Grill....

Scott, you're on...

• Men’s College Basketball National Champions (ROCK CHALK!): Kansas: 5, Wisconsin: Err, moving on…
• Where Dorothy, Toto, and Superman lived: Kansas: 3, Wisconsin: We don’t need no stinkin’ badgers or superheros
• Tailgate capital of the world (KC…Hey, half of the city is in Kansas). Kansas: 1, Wisconsin: Well, I guess you have cheese.
• Top 100 Best Places To Live (Small cities, 2008): Kansas: 3 (Overland Park, Shawnee, and Olathe), Wisconsin: 0 (CNN Money)

While I completely agree with you in the tornado department, it's very important that I correct a crucial error you've made when it comes to beer. As Tim has already pointed out, Freestate Brewery in Lawrence, KS has some of the best beer around. 75th Street Brewery in KC ranks up there as well so the correct information on this tally should be:

• Better Beer: Kansas 2, Wisconsin 0

See, Kansas totally pwns Wisconsin and we're still #1 with tornadoes.

 

[Doug Mitchell]

God hates our state! WOOO KANSAS!

 

[mikedeason]

God hates our state! WOOO KANSAS!

That's right, Kansas is also the proud home of...

You go Kansas!!!!

 

[Scott Weberpal]

Ah, that's right, Fred Phelps - Kansas 1 Wisconsin 0

Though we did have Dahmer and Ed Gein.

Ummm...don't even try me on the beer, there's a reason Milwaukee is called the brew ciy. Not to mention we have more microbreweries than you'll ever contemplate having. Ah, gotta love this advanced weather discussion

 

[Adam Lucio]

Well if you guys cant figure out which state is best. You can always come visit Illinois

Leftover MCS crapvection capital of the USA!

 

[Brandon Ivey]

Ahh, I love the bashing back and fourth. My vote goes to Kansas. Born in Fort Scott, KS and raised in Wichita, KS. I don't ever see myself leaving this state, and yes there is plenty of cool things to see if you get off the beaten path a little. If your driving from KC to Goodland on I-70, I can see how people complain about the long boring drive, even I would.

We have been crowned the king of tornadoes the last two years in a row. It is almost like winning the damn superbowl! If you like to bash Kansas so much, why are you all flocking to our state and congesting our highways in May? I am having to take dirt roads now just to avoid all you crazy wackos. (Just kidding there) Don't take it personal anyone, It is all in fun and games! I could not resist with all the Kansas bashing going on in this thread.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Speaking of last year's season, does anyone have any idea why we had so many of the HP variety, especially in areas where you would typically not see storms in HP mode?

This is a good question that I think we sort of overlooked in all the conversation ... lol ...

Just seems like there was TONS of moisture available to each system. Usually eastern KS/western MO get that distinction because by the time the boundaries get over here, they are deep in the wet air masses. This year it seemed like that line got pushed west a ways, and the lows would come off the Rockies almost immediately into a saturated environment. Who knows ... just my $.02 guesstimation ... but would like to hear more thoughts on the subject. EDIT - - also, there may have been some UL ventilation issues at work this year now that I think about it ...

I almost wonder (if this ends up being another La Nina season) if we'll end up dealing with yet more HP beasts out there again ...

 

[Leah Robertson]

Haha, it's all in good fun. =) ...except for Missouri but I lived in Lawrence and went to KU so that's a given. ;P

Ah, that's right, Fred Phelps - Kansas 1 Wisconsin 0

Though we did have Dahmer and Ed Gein.

Kansas is right behind you with "In Cold Blood" and the BTK Killer. Must be the wind...

As for Phelps, what I find so completely ironic about the picture above is he's wearing a Kansas Jayhawks jacket yet KU is very active in the fine arts, Lawrence is a rather liberal town (for Kansas standards) and well....KU is a university so you're going to have more 'free thinkers.' Logically you would think Phelps would detest anything related to the university but instead he wears that jacket all the time even when he's picketing on campus with signs stating how all KU students are going to hell. I did once have the pleasure of seeing him get completely drenched with water by a group of students on the main campus...it was freezing that day.

Back to more important things that involve using the advanced discussion mindset: Beer. I've tried Old Milwaukee and it's scary. Give me some Freestate Imperial Stout anyday. Hmm, this category might be have to be a draw since not many (if anyone here) has sampled the breweries in both states so we don't have a solid baseline to go off of. ...although Kansas beer is still better.

Other categories that depict the awesomeness of Kansas include being the only state where you will find Allen Fieldhouse, the legend of Phog Allen, and where James Naismith invented the sport of basketball:

Kansas 3, Wisconsin 0

Yep, yep.

Well if you guys cant figure out which state is best. You can always come visit Illinois
Leftover MCS crapvection capital of the USA!

I certainly can sympathize there as Eastern Kansas is very prone to effects of leftover crapvection as well and had many mornings where I had to pull out my 'Bang Head Here' poster knowing that there was no way the atmosphere would be able to recover and would ruin a potentially impressive severe weather day.

I almost wonder (if this ends up being another La Nina season) if we'll end up dealing with yet more HP beasts out there again ...

Oooh, with the KansasvsWisconsinpalooza going on, I completely forgot about this as well, lol. Thank you for the analytical feedback and interpretation on the matter. I remember how high the PW values were last year just east of the Rockies...never seen anything quite like it over that region. Here is what is puzzling me to no end about the La-Nina event last year and it's impact on the severe weather season: Isn't the midwest typically much drier during La-Nina, therefore less moisture for systems to work with? This was the exact opposite last spring and something I'm trying to better understand. Of course, my limited background knowledge with La-Nina cycles is hampering my efforts in interpreting the overall synoptic patterns in place last spring but the moisture issue is something I'm really struggling to understand. *Continues to look for literature on La-Nina*

 

[Brandon Ivey]

It was all the moisture. We had a record breaking year for total rainfall here in Wichita this past year. The same was true for most of Kansas. Not only did the gulf open up wide most of the time, but the evaportranspiration from the healthy wheat harvest, trees, and other plants helped to give the atmosphere some really rich juice to work with.

This year has been so dry; I almost wonder what April and May will be like. I see Western Kansas being a lot quieter than 2007/2008. More of a LP/Classic supercell year along and east of I-35! Ahhh Yeah! (That is only an educated guess and we all know that anything is possible).

I just hope the lack of moisture does not set up a lot of high LCL days and I definitely do not want to see the "death ridge" build back in like we had during the late spring of 2006.

 

[Mike Smith]

As for Phelps, what I find so completely ironic about the picture above is he's wearing a Kansas Jayhawks jacket yet KU is very active in the fine arts, Lawrence is a rather liberal town (for Kansas standards)

Nothing ironic here. The following is a factual, not a political statement: Fred Phelps is Democrat and has run for office in the past as a Democrat. He was a Gore delegate to the Democratic National Convention. The man seems to believe he is a liberal of some type.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps along with other references.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Isn't the midwest typically much drier during La-Nina, therefore less moisture for systems to work with?

I'm not aware of all of the climatological implications from La Nina, but there are regional irregularities for sure. Seems to me that there is a pocket across the central plains into Missouri that stays pretty wet during these years, but I'd need to go check the maps to be sure.

After years of watching this, it really seems to me that La Nina sort of works to swing things into normalized patterns (and sort of counters the effects that warming has had). La Nina years just feel like pre-2000 patterns to me.

 

[Josh Boustead]

Just wanted to pass along some good research that is being done on the effects of ENSO phase on severe weather across parts of the plains. The first link is basically the how behind the research project which was presented at the SLS in St. Louis, MO in 2006, and the second link is the extended abstract from the presentation from last falls SLS in Savannah, GA. From the research that we have done so far, there does seem to be a statistically significant correlation with ENSO phase and severe weather in parts of the Plains. The reason behind this correlation is certainly apparent when analyzing the mean 500 mb heights for La Nina springs. Although, the pattern is stronger if we can maintain a La Nina throughout the spring.

http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/115322.pdf
http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/141973.pdf

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Thanks for the post, Josh. Pretty interesting stuff there!