Last week during a visit with a former McCook resident who now lives in the southwestern United States, the weather came up during the conversation.
“Do you miss having four seasons?” I asked. “Don’t you want to move back so you can experience winter and snow?”
He responded that they have seasons, just not the same as in the Midwest. In fact, they are “blessed” with six seasons.
Beginning with winter, the area may have a cold day or two, requiring a coat. And like many southern communities, a dusting of snow can bring the area to a halt.
Then, there is spring, for about two weeks. The most blissful two weeks of the year.
This is followed by the rainy season, for a month or two.
Next up is monsoon season, which makes the previous rainy months seem mild when it comes to downpours.
Then summer arrives. During July and August, you simply don’t go outside during the day. You wait until nightfall when the temperatures “dip” to 90 degrees if you want to enjoy the outdoors. While I may joke about this, it is actually dangerous because our bodies need cooler temperatures to get a good night's sleep.
The final season is the two weeks of fall. The other two most blissful weeks of the year.
There are some people - lots of people - who enjoy the warm weather offered in other parts of the U.S. They don’t miss the cold. They don’t miss the snow. They don’t miss the change of the seasons.
And that is understandable.
But we do live in a part of the country where there are four seasons. Ultimately, this is one of our assets and something we can and should see as a benefit for those who already live here as well as those we would like to attract to our communities.
On a hot day, we can take advantage of the surrounding lakes to hang out at the water’s edge. During the spring and fall, we can enjoy sitting in the park, reading a book or watching kids play. And in the winter, we can go outside for a walk, enjoying the simple beauty the snowfall provides over the landscape.
And if any of those seasons don’t suit a person, we are also blessed to know that the season will change in a few months, in a few weeks, in a few days. Sometimes, even in a few hours.
While a conversation about the weather is usually reserved for the morning coffee groups or when a group of people doesn’t have anything else to talk about, we can actually use the weather to our advantage.
At the McCook Community Foundation Fund, we have resurrected the use of the slogan, “McCook, Nebraska’s Hot Spot.” As part of a new people-attraction program for the community, the program even includes T-shirts if you see someone wandering around town with the slogan on their chest.
For those who don’t know, McCook regularly has the highest temperature in the state during the summer. And McCook has even had the highest temperature in the country because of its geographical location. According to a call, I made years ago to the National Weather Service, McCook is located at the perfect distance from the Gulf of Mexico to hit the weather systems coming off the Rocky Mountains, creating the perfect situation for warm temperatures.
As for the slogan “McCook, Nebraska’s Hot Spot,” it was abandoned years ago because some people felt the sometimes-warm temperatures in McCook shouldn’t be highlighted. Being known as the “hot spot” was a bad thing.
But if it is true that people don’t like warm places, then why are the fastest-growing communities in some of the hottest places in the country?
Instead, we can celebrate that we are a “hot spot” and that we have a summer. We can claim to be the hot spot, yet still celebrate that we have a full-fledged fall, spring and winter.
Conversely, the slogan also offers up the opportunity to celebrate that McCook is a “hot spot” for things that are happening…and things are happening. From a burgeoning arts and culture scene to moving forward on a new pool and ballparks, we have reasons to celebrate being a hot spot.
As a community, we need to celebrate what we have instead of lamenting what we don’t have - or more importantly, what we have no control over.
Yes, McCook is the hot spot in Nebraska when it comes to summer temperatures but McCook is also the “hot spot” when it comes to having people with a passion to get things done and doing projects which get people excited. It is time to celebrate being Nebraska’s “hot spot.”
