Thunderstorms, some heavy during the morning hours, then skies turning partly cloudy during the afternoon. High around 85F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..
Tonight
A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
On behalf of all Manhattanites, I want to warn you newcomers. I know you dropped off your kids at college, or helped them set up their basement apartment, and it was 115 degrees outside, steamy as the rainforest. You probably broke a sweat just getting out of bed.
This is a test. We do this every year in mid-August. It gets hotter than the surface of the sun, at precisely the time we know you’ll be carting boxes off of U-Hauls, trying to maneuver grimy couches down cramped basement hallways on Bertrand.
If you pass that test, then we know you’re qualified as a K-Stater, and for that matter, as an honorary Manhattanite.
See, the thing is, we don’t really want to let the secret out. Sure, we talk a good game about promotion and marketing, and trying to bring more people here. But we’re a little suspicious. Like, we’d kinda like to keep the place to ourselves.
This is why your entry into town off I-70 is marked by a mobile home sales lot and a vacant lot that used to be a convenience store. It’s all deliberately lousy.
Manhattan is this incredible place where fall Saturdays are glorious, where the students are generally hard-working and nice and fun, and where the town cares about the college, and vice-versa. You see this in surveys; the kids here are friendly and happy. The rock-star basketball coach hands out his cell phone number, fills a kid’s tank with gas, and you bump into future Dallas Cowboys in Aggieville.
But you’ve got to get over some hurdles. You’ve got to be able to stand up to 115. You’ve got to handle a tornado warning, and ice storms, and heartbreak in the Elite Eight, or when Bishop coughs it up when all he had to do was get down. These things are tests, to determine if you’re up to it, if you’re in the club.
Once you’re in, though, you’re in for life. That’s why people who go away always want to come back. “I Miss Manhattan,” says the t-shirt, and they sell a lot of them.
So, yeah. Sorry about this, sorta. It’s hotter than all hell. It will be freezing, and awful, and miserable. And most of you, anyway, will love it, and we’re awfully glad about that.
