Looking out the front of the KWEC this morning toward the KDOT rest stop across K-156 Hwy. That is not fog! Dust from the exposed fields and Cheyenne Bottoms is being blown into the air by 40-50 mph winds today.
Yet another reminder of how dry Cheyenne Bottoms is today. Winds are blowing a sustained 35 mph and gusts are near 50 mph today. As a result of the extreme wind, the dry exposed mud that is Cheyenne Bottoms is gettting kicked up into the air. The Kansas Wetlands Education Center and the surrounding area is being blanketed by impressive dust clouds today. Visibility is less than 1/2 mile. It would seem that on a day like today we are getting a glimpse of what it was like to live on the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl Dirty 30′s.
A haze of dust kicks up in the Mitigation Marsh behind the KWEC.
From the KWEC entrance, a concrete truck is barely visible through the wall of dust in the air as it passes by on K-156 Hwy.
Tumble weeds are loving the weather today as they dance across the landscape. It looks like a scene from an old west movie. As one visitor exclaimed today, “there are tumbleweeds the size of my car out there!”
A tumbleweed kicks up into the air as another one rolls across the ground.
2 Comments
Are there ANY birds at all? We like to visit Chey Bottoms at this time of the year, but if no birds, will wait until there are. Let us know, thanks
Unfortunately, the bird life at Cheyenne Bottoms is pretty minimal right now. Most migrating water birds are simply bypassing the area due to the extreme drought. We are seeing a fair number of raptors (Northern harriers, Red-tailed hawks, etc.) and sparrow numbers/diversity have been increasing.