The forecast on Saturday looks sunny and clear for Symphony in the Flint Hills in Geary County…but this is Kansas, and pop-up storms are common.

Garry Berges, Geary County Emergency Management Director said that officials have created an action plan in the event of inclement weather.

“We have no shelter out there at the Symphony, so if we have a severe weather possibility coming in there’s a special action plan that takes place between the Weather Service, event promoters, myself and my staff as to what we do with the event,” said Berges.

The plan calls for different options such as postponing the event, or sending people to their cars for a period of time. So far, the weather forecast looks clear for Saturday.

“We started last Wednesday meeting with the Weather Service…we started that as they were doing the setup because we didn’t want them trying to out tents up or anything because it’s wide open,” said Berges who noted that the concern during setup was if there would be lightning strikes in the area.

“The Weather Service has been talking to us everyday, and tomorrow they will be bringing a meteorologist on-site in the afternoon to monitor the weather,” said Berges.

The National Weather Service in Topeka often sends meteorologists to big outdoor events.

“They had somebody out here last weekend at the biplane fly-in,” said Berges. “Anytime there’s a major event, especially where there’s people and not a lot of shelter area [we call them in]; we’ve got no shelter out there [at Deer Horn Ranch], technically there’s one road in and one road out.”

Over 7000 people are expected to attend the Symphony in the Flint Hills tomorrow at Deer Horn Ranch in Geary County.

Temperatures are expected to be around 90 degrees, with heat indexes near 97; those in attendance should wear hats and sunscreen, and drink plenty of water.