What would Earl predict?

For most of my youthful days, everyone in the Pittsburg, Kan., viewing area religiously followed Channel 7's weatherman, Earl Ludlum, when we needed a meteorological prediction. It's February, and I wish Earl was still around to let me know what's ahead for all of us!

I began writing this column last Saturday morning, which also happened to be my birthday. Two days before, as it happens each year, Groundhog Day, claimed that we had another six weeks of winter to endure.

When I checked the weather app on my iPhone, it showed that the temperature and moisture were forecast to be moderate, for the next week at least. That is important to me because my senior golf group needs weather like that.

On my yearly celebration of my birthday I have witnessed several widely variable weather events. I can honestly say that on my birthday I have seen every type of Missouri weather, ranging from snow, to ice, to thunderstorms and even weather warm enough to swim if there had been a pool open.

My Grandmother always told me that shortly after my birth we lost electricity from a freezing rain storm and she bundled me close to her in blankets until the power was restored.

In 1960, when I was in the fifth grade at Bryan Elementary School, we had a deep late February snowstorm, which covered the ground clear into March. We actually took our sleds to school, so we could play outside for recess.

Just six years ago, Missouri had one of its most historic and dangerous weather years. Everyone remembers the horrible tornado that devastated Joplin that May, but that same year, a significant snowstorm hit our area in early February.

I had made plans to travel to San Antonio, Texas with my daughter to visit some friends for my birthday. She lived in Owasso, Okla., then and we planned our trip to begin on Groundhog Day.

A huge nationwide snowstorm began to cross the country from New Mexico, all the way to New England, lasting from Jan. 31, to Feb. 4. In Nevada, snowfall totals ranged as high as 20 inches in places, and in Owasso they measured 22 inches. Needless to say, we were forced to postpone our trip.

Over the years, these dramatic weather events have made people in Missouri make the following claim, "if you don't like the weather here, just wait, it will change, you can count on that!"

Unfortunately, we don't have Earl Ludlum for our local weatherman anymore to give us his insights. I can so clearly remember watching him with my father. He was on both the 6 and 10 p.m. Channel 7 newscasts.

Earl had few of the modern day weather prediction inventions we now possess. Channel 7 had a rudimentary radar, but it only had a range of about a hundred miles or so. Earl had to make his case each day, based on much less evidence. Still, he seemed almost always to get the forecast right.

When it came to possible snow, thunderstorms, or tornadoes, he used his famous white weather map to show us what he thought was coming to our area.

On that map he employed a type of grease writing marker to display fronts, high pressure, low pressure, and temperatures. He was the first weatherman who made it clear to me, just why we have the weather patterns in our area that cause these massive weather changes.

He always was very concerned when there was a low pressure, accompanied by a cold front that entered our area from the southwest, usually beginning in New Mexico and basically following the path of old U.S. Highway 66. He would show us on that same map how the counterclockwise winds of that storm, rapidly pulled moisture from the Gulf of Mexico as it moved from southwest to northeast.

He always said that the warm moist air from the Gulf was the fuel for the storms. As it tracked across Oklahoma and Missouri, it crashed into the colder drier air, which resulted in our extreme weather conditions. It was this same pattern that produced each type of seasonal weather.

Having lived most of my life in the Four State area, I, like many of you, have experienced all of the above listed weather events. Sometimes when I visit with people from other parts of the country they ask me how we cannot be totally terrified of the dangers of tornadoes in our area. My replies to that question are a bit vague.

I certainly have a healthy respect for severe thunderstorms, lightening and tornadoes. Snow and ice storms also garner my attention, but I don't wake up each day in fear of our weather.

In the early 70s, I spent a period living in Southern California. That time made it very clear to me why Hollywood was chosen as the setting for movie making. If you want boring sunshine almost everyday of the year that's the place for you.

I don't have a love affair with our often severe weather, but I do like the seasons and the changes that come with them. For me, there is a spice to life that accompanies our changing weather. Those very rapid changes never allow for boredom when it comes to our weather.

Only time will tell what the next few weeks will bring us in weather. At my age, I hope not to see any of those ice storms or huge snow events. This spring I will enjoy seeing the return of thunderstorms, but hopefully there will be no tornadoes.

My fellow senior golfers will gladly take all the moderate days we can receive over the rest of the month, but we all know that the weather here is like our golf games, unpredictable! If there are big changes ahead, I just wish we still had Earl Ludlum on Channel 7 to give us his spot on prediction!