Kansas: which areas have the best weather? Horse country? (McPherson: home, tornadoes)

[artpro]

I've traveled the country a great deal but never made it into Kansas. I plan on going this year. While I hear alot about very flat land and tornadoes, I also hear a lot of great things. More good than bad. While I wouldn't expect to find a mediterranean climate in a midwestern state, surely there must be some places in the state of Kansas where the weather is more temperate than others?? I am looking for a place to call home where I can connect with other horsey folks ( those who ride,drive, breed, show: active in the horse world ), and enjoy getting out with the horses.

So many horse-property communities have plenty of acerage but no trails, so that everyone must either ride only on their property, or trailer someplace.


Thanks for reading

[j_k_k]

The Flint Hills are cowboy country. While a lot of cowboys today drive 4WDs in the pasture and don't wear cowboy hats, there are also plenty who ride. Seems to me like a great place to find horse people.

[jayell79]

First of all Kansas is not flat. There are plenty of rolling hills throughout the state. The weather in KS is a tricky thing. There is no one area that is nicer or much different from any other area. However the west part of the state sometimes gets more snow (drifts from CO snow storms.) We have a saying "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes." It's sure to change. It can be 70 one day and snow the next. The spring and fall are prime times for storms and tornadoes. Pretty much any rural place has horse people. Somewhere in McPherson county they have part of the Chisolm Trail they still use and have an annual cattle drive you can take part in.

[luzianne]

Generally the further south you go, the more temperate the weather.

[denverian]

Probably the main difference in weather is that the far western part of the state is less humid and more windy. Other than that, there's not any major climate difference throughout the state.

[GraniteStater]

The northwest part of the state tends to have much more volatile weather while the far southeast is generally the mildest.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

The northwest part of the state tends to have much more volatile weather while the far southeast is generally the mildest.

I see that on our local weather here in Denver. The funny thing is that often big snowstorms will dump in the CO mountains, skip over Denver and the Front Range, and then dump again in eastern CO/northwestern KS. It seems to happen every winter where I-70 is closed due to blizzard condistions well off to our east, but the weather in Denver is dry.