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Weather
Weather is both a sailor's best friend and worst enemy. When the sun is shining, temperature is moderate and a nice breeze blowing, Mother Nature is your best friend. However, when she gets upset, watch out. That nice breeze can turn into a category 5 hurricane in a heartbeat. You are probably thinking to yourself "What does this have to do with sailing in the Midwest?". Let me explain. It doesn't make any difference whether you are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean or a Midwest lake, weather can make or break your day. It's a nice sunny day, good wind, all of your canvases are flying and you are doing 7 knots on a broad reach. All of a sudden, the sky becomes overcast, a squall line develops and you are hit with a 40 mph wind straight abeam. If you have taken the time to pay attention to what the weather forecasters were predicting, you would have prepared for the bad weather and already buttoned down the hatches, reefed the sails, stowed all loose stuff on deck and headed for the closest protected cove. No big deal. Storm passes, sun comes back out, and you settle back down to your normal routine. However if you did not take heed to Mother Nature warnings things could turn out different, very different. Just as it would be ludicrous to start an ocean voyage without first checking the forecast. It would be just as silly to pack up your daysailor, drive a couple hundred miles to your favorite lake only to have it storm the whole time you are there. Just because you felt it wasn't necessary to check out the forecast. Here is another example why you should be weather wise. We had just finished a perfect day of sailing, dropped the hook in our favorite anchorage, tidied up the boat, and settled down for a perfect evening and beautiful sunset. I didn't know what I did to get THOR mad at me, but at about 02:30 I was awakened by the loudest clap of thunder that I have ever heard. THOR had released all of his fury upon the skies above us. It then dawned on me that he was aiming at the 32 foot lighting rod (the mast) above us. After the storm it was obvious that he was right on target: As 3 inches were missing off the top of the mast and all of the masthead equipment were gone. Had we of turned on the weather radio sometime during the day, we and the boat would have been safe and snug back at the marina. What did we learn? Always plan ahead, even if it is nothing more than watching the 10:00 news the night before. That is better than going sailing blind.
With all of this in mind, I have compiled a list of links to N.W.S's and N.O.A.A.'s pages to the lake or lakes that you have selected. Weather information for some of the more remote lakes is quite sparse, while those that are near major metropolitan areas have a lot of stats. A word of caution. Check to see when the last time the forecast was updated. Some can be up to a day old. ARKANSAS NOTE: Arkansas is kinda messed up as far as weather infomation. Where there is a dedicated site I have provided a link to it. Otherwise you must look through a list of counties, for the county that the lake is in. I have provided the county where the lake is located below.
TOP IOWA Iowa County Map
TOP KANSAS Kansas County Map
MISSOURI Missouri County Map
NEBRASKA Nebraska County Map
OKLAHOMA |
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