Over the weekend I traveled south to Oklahoma. The weather was great for the drive there and back, which made for a beautiful trip. Everything was turning green and blooming. It’s amazing how much the landscape changes between Northeast Kansas, Southeast Kansas and Oklahoma!

Once you start to get farther south in Kansas, it is farm after farm after farm. Here is a shot of the cattle enjoying the nice weather on Friday, April 9, 2010.

A few months ago when I was in Tulsa, I experienced “lake-effect flurries” from small lake nearby, Lake Oologah. If you were to look at this lake on a map, it is a very narrow lake, but it has a long fetch. The conditions were just right for “lake-effect flurries” this past January; arctic air in place, with winds from the northeast blowing over the longest stretch of the lake. I had to go take a look at the lake that caused this unusual batch of “lake-effect flurries.” Unlike the cold conditions and lake-effect snow from January, on April 10, 2010, the weather was great for sailing.

There was even a motor boat out enjoying the beautiful afternoon.

I mentioned everything was turning green and blooming during the trip, but one thing I saw a lot of was the Oklahoma state tree, the Redbud. This tree really brightens the landscape when it’s in bloom during the early part of spring. You can see a redbud popping out in the picture taken on April 11, 2010 of an abandoned barn.

As I approached Northeast Kansas on my trip home, smoke once again filled the air. The conditions were right for controlled burns on Sunday and there was a lot of smoke in the air. The picture below shows the smoke from burns on April 11, 2010.