Cool cave destination gets a warm welcome
Cool cave near Freedom gets a warm welcome

FREEDOM — Jim Sander was only five minutes into a tour at Alabaster Caverns State Park when he reached for the blue and red jacket draped over his left arm and slipped it on.

Yes, a jacket in Oklahoma on Tuesday.

And yes, it was 104 degrees at nearby Freedom.

But yes, Sander, a 65-year-old cattleman and retired coach who lives at Seiling, would have had a hard time picking a cooler place to be "outdoors” in Oklahoma on Tuesday. He was taking the tour with wife, Elaine, and grandson Marshall Gose, 7.

The temperature in the cave — 58 degrees.

Opal Marshall, 21, of Woodward guided the tour of 11 people, six of whom were wearing a jacket or a sweatshirt.

Marshall, a seasonal tour guide, said when she's outside in July and August and her friends say, "Gosh it's hot,” she smiles and replies, "I've got to go to work.”

Consider that her first stop on the tour is at the deepest point in the cave, 80 feet below the surface.

The humidity is 100 percent, but the hottest it gets is 60 degrees. In the winter, it only dips into the 40s.

That wouldn't be too bad at any time, but on this early August day the feel of cool air on the face, the arms and the back of the neck is exceptional.

"This is the best job,” said Marshall.

Hot, hot, hot
Freedom, in northwestern Oklahoma, is only six miles north of Alabaster Caverns State Park.

A 110-degree temperature recorded there at an Oklahoma Mesonet station Monday marked the highest temperature for any of the 120 Mesonet sites this year, said Gary McManus, assistant state climatologist for the Oklahoma Climatological Survey.

That also marked the sixth time in the past 13 days that Freedom had the highest or second highest temperature.

So why do some Mesonet sites routinely end up among the hottest in the state?

McManus answers, "Location, location, location.”

He said it is a result of a balancing act between aridity and geography. Western Oklahoma is much drier than eastern Oklahoma, so the sun's energy is used in different ways as it strikes the earth's surface.

In the moist conditions in the east, more of the sun's energy will go towards evaporating moisture out of the soil, or be used by plants for "their life processes,” McManus said.

However, in western Oklahoma, where it is much drier and the vegetation is more sparse, more of the sun's energy will go towards warming.

"There is definitely a trade-off though,” McManus said. "While the west gets the extreme high temperatures, the east has higher heat indices due to the increased moisture.

"It becomes a point of picking your poison. You can take the blast furnace or the tropical rain forest.”

From July 18 to Monday, the Mesonet site at Grandfield in southwestern Oklahoma had the highest daily temperature, or had a share of the highest, nine of the 18 days.

David Gammill is an insurance agent in Grandfield and farms in the area.

"It really does get our attention, because it is so suffocating hot,” he said by phone. "I get out by 6 a.m. and get my farm work done and then go into the office. And then we'll stay inside until about 7:30 before we get back out.”

Back at the cave
As he neared the cave exit Tuesday, Sander, still wearing the jacket, was trying to sell himself he was doing the right thing by not turning back.

"I'm ready for the heat,” he said.

"Jim, are you really ready?” I asked.

"No, not really,” he said.

A day earlier he had been "patching fence” near Seiling as the temperature climbed to about 107 degrees.

With the coolness of the cave fading behind him and the sun soaking his face, he turned to me and said, "I sure hope the cattle aren't out again today.”

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