Dangerously cold weather affected vast portions of Kansas and the United States Feb. 11-16.
According to www.weather.com, with wind chills as low as 35 degrees below 0, frostbite could occur on exposed skin as little as 10 minutes.
The Weather Channel also reported this as the coldest outbreak in more than 30 years for the Southern Great Plains. Texas and other states even had planned and unplanned blackouts, causing millions of homes and businesses to have no electricity.
Hays High informed parents to arrange for their students to be picked up on the Early Release Day on Friday, Feb. 12 to prevent them from being left out in the extreme cold.
On Monday, Feb. 15, the faculty in-service was held remotely, and on Tuesday, Feb. 16, USD 489 canceled school due to the extremely low temperatures in the morning.
“The cold weather made me a lot slower to get things done, especially in the mornings,” sophomore Rilee Schwarz said. “It has affected my plans by stopping me from doing things outside and staying in instead; it has made me a little bit less enthusiastic.”
Junior Emry Lundy, like Schwarz, had to stay inside instead of participating in outside activities.
“I usually take regular walks after school just to get some fresh air, but the dangerously cold weather threw that off,” Lundy said. “I was supposed to perform in a Valentine’s Day-themed haunted house as one of the actors, but the event was cancelled due to the extreme cold. The building it was going to be held in didn’t have heat, so it would have been dangerous to continue as we had planned.”
Lundy said, usually, she likes cold weather, but also believes this is too cold.
“I personally like the cold, but -20 windchill is definitely past the limit,” Lundy said. “The lack of chance to be outside due to the weather made me restless and ready for warmer weather to come.”
For more information about the February cold outbreak, go to: https://weather.com/safety/winter/news/2021-02-14-record-cold-temperatures-plains-midwest-february

22acoveney@usd489.com