To survive the Walnut Valley Festival in comfort, campers learn quickly to be prepared for any weather.
"Bring your shorts and your T-shirts and your winter coat," said Dennis Loyd of Denver, who is attending his fourth festival.
This weekend, the Cowley County Fairground may be a little soggy, but the weather should be nice, forecasters say.
Tonight there is a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms with lows in the 60s. For the rest of the weekend, the National Weather Service is predicting partly cloudy weather with highs in the high 80s and lows in the mid-60s. A chance of storms persists through the weekend.
"The only reason there's probably a chance of thunderstorms is I think there's an upper level low that's kind of spinning over the central part of the country," said meteorologist Steve Marien of the National Weather Service. "There's no major systems coming in, so you should have a nice weekend."
There have been festivals with good weather. Loyd admitted, for instance, that he has never had to put on heavy clothes. "That's just what they tell you," he said.
Nevertheless, the stormy or sweltering or shivery weekends are what stand out in people's memories. Debbie Mullins, Hutchinson, said she always packs jeans, sweaters, shorts, hats and coats.
"You bring one of everything," agreed Mikki Shields of Wichita.
Though people may want to believe it, Marien said he is not aware of any cosmic force that causes inhospitable weather for Winfield weekends. He did have one theory.
"Maybe because there's more people down there, there's more hot air," Marien said. "It's just chance ... It's just whatever Mother Nature brings."
Robert Balch, Camden, Ark., learned quickly about Winfield weather even though this is his first year at the festival. He said he was pleased to discover a nice spot in the northwest part of the campground when he arrived Friday. He did not know he was in what some campers call The Swamp - until it rained.
"I looked at the road, and I figured I was here till dry season," Balch said, "which may be sometime around July."
Those who like to boast about taking part in the Walnut Valley Festival no matter how harsh the conditions have a valuable resource.
At the website http://homepage.midusa.net/~shorock/wv/wx/index.html, a look at festival weather through the years is available. The information covers "Winfield week" - the 10 days leading up to and including the festival - for every year of the festival.
The website was created by Don Shorock of Great Bend.
Extreme temperature swings are common during the festival period:
In 1972, the high on Sept. 25 was 90. By Sept. 30, the low dropped to 30.
In 1977, the high on Sept. 12 was 91. The high on Sept. 14 was only 70, then it went back up to 88 Sept. 16.
In 1980, the low on Sept. 17 was 41, but the high on Sept. 19 was just under 100.
In 1982, the high on Sept. 16 was only 78, but the next day it jumped to 99.
In 1991, the high was near 90 on both Sept. 7 and 17. On Sept. 13 and 14 the high stayed at 58.
In 1995 the high on Sept. 8 was 66. The low on Sept. 15 was the same temperature - 66.
Some campers say that the festival actually causes rain. While that may not be true, several festivals have been rainy:
In 1973, six of the 10 "Winfield week" days had rain, for a total of 5.36 inches.
In 1976, four days of rain produced 2.96 inches.
In 1977, seven days of rain resulted in 1.29 inches.
In 1983, five days of rain produced 2.84 inches.
In 1989, five days of rain ended with 2.45 inches.
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