BREAKING NEWS: Sometimes Weather-casters Go Overboard! Yes, I know it's a shock, but, every now and then, whether it has to do with stormy stuff or a nice stretch, weather folks can get a little hyperbolic. For example, sometime ago, when we were in a streak of gloomy, drizzly days, I would talk about how dreary and drab everything had been for so long. Well, it wasn't long before I got an e-mail from a viewer reminding me that some people really like the cloudy days...good for reading, for sleeping, for contemplation, for avoiding outdoor chores. I should have known better because I am one of those people who kind of likes gray days now and then. My hair is less noticeably gray on such days. When I first came to KMBC, the then-head honcho told me "We're part of the sunbelt!" He was right. There is a lot more sunshine around here than where I grew up in Wisconsin. So, when it is a bit dreary that's okay.

I did it again, Monday, during FirstNews. I went on and on about what a great day it was on Sunday and how we were going to get close to 90 in some parts of the area on Monday and , ooooh, isn't that exciting and great and wonderful and summer-like and toasty and sizzling and toga-weather and hit-the-pool and hot, hot, hot....you name the weatherdork cliche' and I may have used it. In fact, please, name a few more weather-dork cliches' and I will steal, eh...I mean, use them! You get the picture. I made it sound like a mid-July day at the end of April was a great thing, period. Not so much, as an e-mailer informed me:

"Mr. Nichols: You are certainly the prince of prognosticators, but really, Sunday's temperatures were wonderful and Monday will be even better? As I was hiking on Sunday, sweating and swatting insects...as I was cutting the grass and about to die of heat stroke...as I listened to my neighbors complain about 'no spring' this year (in case it slipped your mind, spring is more like temps in the 40s at night and 50s, 60s maybe in the daytime) and as I wondered what my electric bill will be like having to turn on the a/c so early, I listened to you go on and on about how great this hot summer weather is. You folks are either genetically engineered to sub for reptiles or spend a great deal of time in air-conditioned environments. Whatever happened to spring? It's hot!"

I think he was calling me "reptilian" in there somewhere. I'm not sure because I was busy catching a fly with my tongue as I read it. In any case, this perspiring petitioner pursued a pertinent point, poopsie. (That last sentence brought to by the AAA...not that AAA, I mean the American Alliteration Association.) When it comes to hot weather being less than welcomed by some folks, I really should have just looked around my own family. My mom hates hot weather. She will never be a snowbird...leaving Wisconsin for warmer climes just as the cold and snow moves in. Fall and winter are her favorite seasons in Wisconsin. Since summer in the Badger State usually falls on a Thursday, that's a good thing for her. She used to lay out in the sun with a wash rag on her head so she could tan a little without roasting completely. Speaking of "roasting," I'll never forget how my mom's dislike for rising temps did NOT keep her from making a full-blown Sunday dinner with a roast, mashed potatoes, rolls and all the trimmings once when she visited us during a heat wave. It was nearing 100 outside and, by the time the dinner was ready, felt like twice that inside. The food was great but we had to eat fast as the dining room table and chairs were melting. My mom and wife each lost about 20 pounds preparing the meal. But, since life usually balances out, I gained 20 eating it.

My wife's personal thermostat has become quite sensitive since moving to KC. Growing up in Wisconsin, she could take the cold with the best of them. Sledding with a wind chill of 40 below? No problem. Walk the dog in a snowstorm? Fine. Now, if it gets a little below 50 degrees, you'd think we were competing in the Iditarod. That's fine except for her yelling "MUSH...MUSH...MUSH" from the window of her mini-van as she leaves the driveway. On the other end of the thermometer, if it gets upward of 80, she feels just too darn hot. The bottom line is, for my wife to be totally comfortable, it has to be somewhere between 66.7 and 71.4 degrees with a partly cloudy sky and me in another part of the house. Also, our kids have all developed their grandma's anti-heat tendencies. A couple have talked about basing their college choices on the number of cloudy, cool days in a particular locale.

Whenever I get an e-mail like the one mentioned above I'm surprised. Not because someone is taking issue with my facts or presentation, who wouldn't? But, because someone is listening to me, at all. A few Mays ago, we were in the middle of a perfect stretch of weather. Mid 70s and sunny everyday...cool and starry at night. Well, one morning, it was clear that the worm had turned and we were going to have a chilly, drizzly spring day. I went on and on about it that morning. "Bundle up...it's going to be a shock to your system...no shorts and t-shirts today...big changes ahead!" You'd think we were expecting a foot of snow. Anyway, later that afternoon, as I was home reading the paper, in the door comes our oldest son. Now, believe it or not, my forecast had turned out to be right. It was a chilly, drizzly day. But, here he comes wearing shorts, t-shirt, flip-flops. Looking more like he was returning from the beach than high school. I confronted him: "Hey! What are you wearing? Didn't you hear me say on the news this morning that it was going to be cool and rainy today? Bundle up? Dress warmly?" His calm response: "Dad, I don't listen to you around the house. Why would I listen to you on the TV?"

The bottom-line is that the e-mailer is quite right. I, too, noticed that someone had turned on the a/c yesterday and, I, too, felt the chill of money going out of my pocket. But, that was the only thing I really noticed about our summer-like Monday. Maybe the fact that I'm a weatherman has something to do with it. When you deal in hot air everyday, a bump in temperature just doesn't make an impression.