It’s warm outside, unseasonably warm – in fact, February 2017 is the second warmest February on record for Geary County.

Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, said that the warmer temperatures have shortened the migration period of some bird species.

“We’ve got several bird species in the state that have returned three to four weeks earlier than normal; we’ve got plants that are blooming – and plants blooming early doesn’t concern me too much – but, looking at the progress of the migration of certain birds species from the South, they’re definitely moving ahead of schedule,” said Otte.

A warm February doesn’t necessarily indicate an early Spring.

“[It] was our second warmest February here, only 1954 was hotter; it concerns me because we’ve still got March to go through, and we can have an awful lot of Winter weather in March – and just because we had a warm February doesn’t mean we’re going to have a warm March,” said Otte who suspects “there are still freezing temperatures ahead.”

Otte compiled the numbers for February.

“The average temperature for February this year was 44.9, that is 11.8 degrees above normal; the average overnight low in February was 33.4 – that is the warmest average overnight low temperature ever for the month of February,” said Otte.

According to Otte, in 1954 the average temperature in Geary County was 46.3 degrees – this begs the question…can any of this truly be attributed to global warming?

The Weather Channel compiled a list of cities that had record breaking temperatures throughout the month of February. According to their data, over 250 record high temperatures were set in various cities across the United States. Scientists are partially blaming global warming, but also chalk the warm temperatures up to “natural weather variation.”

The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for Geary County until 6:00 pm today. This means that critical fire weather conditions will occur. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior.

This also includes Dickinson, Morris, Clay, Lyon, Cloud, Ottawa, and Republic counties.

An amended complaint has been filed in Geary County District Court against  Steven Wayne Johnson, Houston, Texas in connection with a November 15, 2016 accident on I-70 that resulted in the death of Jessica Michelle Thompson, 26, and her 5-year-old daughter Leah Michelle Thompson and 6-year-old son Jaydon Allan Thompson, all of Junction City.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol an eastbound international truck driven by Johnson went across the interstate median into the westbound lanes near Grandview Plaza,and hit a Ford 500 driven by Jessica Thompson. Both vehicles ended up in the north ditch. The Kansas Highway Patrol confirmed at the time that Jessica and her daughter Leah were both killed in the accident, while Jaydon died later at Wesley Hospital.

According to the amended complaint Johnson is now charged with three felony counts each of Murder in the 2nd Degree – Reckless, three felony counts of Involuntary manslaughter – DUI, and misdemeanor charges including one count each of DUI and Possession of Phencyclidine.

The preliminary hearing scheduled on Tuesday in Geary County District Court for Johnson was continued at the request of the defense until 1:30 p.m. April 11. Johnson is incarcerated in the Geary County Detention Center. His bond amount is set at $250,000.

A committee has been formed to help with a potential sports complex project in Junction City.

Chamber of Commerce CEO Dennis Beson said at first they will serve as a board of directors. “It might even expand in the future as a kind of recreation commission for Geary County, but that’s down the road. Right now it’ll be a board of directors.”More members could be added to the committee in the future.

A preliminary draft report has been prepared for the potential project. The committee will review it and edits will be made before it is presented to people in the community. Beson noted the project would most likely be done in a four or five phase process that would not hit everyone at once. “But we’ll have actually something to go to potential investors to actually say here’s the plan, would you like to invest.”

Beson is hopeful by the time 2018 arrives officials may have a layout of land and perhaps some groundbreaking where some things are starting to be put in place.

At this point final action has not occurred on a sports complex, and no land has been acquired for the project.

The Freeman Field Junction City Airport is a viable economic resource in the community.

Brad Waller, Benesch Inc., said that aviation brings a lot of revenue into the state.

“The economic impact of aviation was around $10 billion in 2010, now they’re projecting it to be statewide about $17 billion in 2017; the economic output for the community of Junction City and Geary County is about $12 million – and it’s probably up a little bit from a few years ago…it’s a vital economic engine for this community,” said Waller.

Although Junction City gets regular airport traffic from 15 different states, Waller said that expansion is not a primary concern at this point.

“The airport has one primary runway that’s paved – 3500 foot long – and two crosswind runways; we are confined in a space where we’ve got development all around and it’s really not a lot of room for growth, so we’ve really been focused on maintaining and improving what we have as opposed to expanding,” said Waller.

Waller provided an update on the Airport Master Plan to the City Commission at their last meeting.