Kansas - MAJOR VAN LINES LONG DISATNCE MOVERS
a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States.[5] It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area.[6] The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was probably not the term's original meaning.[7][8] Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans." For thousands of years what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the Eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the Western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. Kansas was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue.
When officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861,[9][10] Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly, when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, sorghum and sunflowers.[11] Kansas is the 15th most extensive and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States.
Kansas is bordered by Nebraska on the north; Missouri on the east; Oklahoma on the south; and Colorado on the west. The state is divided into 105 counties with 628 cities, and is located equidistant from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is located in Smith County near Lebanon. The geodetic center of North America was located in Meades Ranch, Kansas, Osborne County until 1983. This spot was used until that date as the central reference point for all maps of North America produced by the U.S. government. The geographic center of Kansas is located in Barton County.
Kansas contains three climatic types, according to the Köppen climate classification: it has humid continental, semi-arid steppe, and humid subtropical. The eastern two-thirds of the state (especially the northeastern portion) has a humid continental climate, with cool to cold winters and hot, often humid summers. Most of the precipitation falls in the summer and spring. The western third of the state – from roughly the U.S. Route 281 corridor westward – has a semiarid steppe climate. Summers are hot, often very hot, and generally less humid. Winters are highly changeable between warm and very cold. The western region receives an average of about 16 inches (410 mm) of precipitation per year. Chinook winds in the winter can warm western Kansas all the way into the 80 °F (27 °C) range. The far south-central and southeastern reaches of the state have a humid subtropical climate with hot, humid summers, milder winters and more precipitation than elsewhere in Kansas. Although not strictly falling in all of the zones, some features of all three climates can be found in most of the state, with droughts and changeable weather between dry and humid not uncommon, and both warm and cold spells in the winter.
Precipitation ranges from about 47 inches (1200 mm) annually in the southeast corner of the state, to about 16 inches (400 mm) in the southwest. Snowfall ranges from around 5 inches (130 mm) in the fringes of the south, to 35 inches (900 mm) in the far northwest. Frost-free days range from more than 200 days in the south, to 130 days in the northwest. Thus, Kansas is the ninth or tenth sunniest state in the country, depending on the source. Western Kansas is as sunny as California and Arizona.
Kansas is prone to severe weather, especially in the spring and early summer. In spite of the frequent sunshine throughout much of the state, due to its location at a climatic boundary prone to multiple air masses the state is vulnerable to strong and severe thunderstorms. Many of these storms become Supercell thunderstorms. These can spawn tornadoes, often of EF3 strength or higher. According to statistics from the National Climatic Data Center, Kansas has reported more tornadoes (for the period January 1, 1950 through October 31, 2006) than any state except for Texas – marginally even more than Oklahoma. It has also – along with Alabama – reported more F5 or EF5 tornadoes than any other state. These are the most powerful of all tornadoes. Kansas averages over 50 tornadoes annually.[17] Severe thunderstorms sometimes drop very large hail over Kansas as well as bringing flash flooding and damaging straight line winds.
According to NOAA, the all-time highest temperature recorded in Kansas is 121 °F (49.4 °C) on July 24, 1936, near Alton, and the all-time low is −40 °F (−40 °C) on February 13, 1905, near Lebanon.
Kansas's record high of 121 °F (49.4 °C) ties with North Dakota for the fifth-highest record high in an American state, behind California (134 °F/56.7 °C), Arizona (128 °F/53.3 °C), Nevada (125 °F/51.7 °C), and New Mexico (122 °F/50 °C).
Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various Kansas Cities |
||||||||||||
City |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Concordia |
36/17 |
43/22 |
54/31 |
64/41 |
74/52 |
85/62 |
91/67 |
88/66 |
80/56 |
68/44 |
51/30 |
40/21 |
Dodge City |
41/19 |
48/24 |
57/31 |
67/41 |
76/52 |
87/62 |
93/67 |
91/66 |
82/56 |
70/44 |
55/30 |
44/22 |
Goodland |
39/16 |
45/20 |
53/26 |
63/35 |
72/46 |
84/56 |
89/61 |
87/60 |
78/50 |
66/38 |
50/25 |
41/18 |
Topeka |
37/17 |
44/23 |
55/33 |
66/43 |
75/53 |
84/63 |
89/68 |
88/65 |
80/56 |
69/44 |
53/32 |
41/22 |
Wichita |
40/20 |
47/25 |
57/34 |
67/44 |
76/54 |
87/64 |
93/69 |
92/68 |
82/59 |
70/47 |
55/34 |
43/24 |
