With the heat advisories of July and August behind us, a Tribune reader asks, "Did Great Bend break the record for the number of 100-degree days?"

At the end of August, Good Question reported that the record was set in 1954, when this area suffered through 50 triple-digit days. Going into Labor Day we were pushing toward that number at 48 days, but things were finally starting to cool off. The Sept. 1 story concluded, "After today, the 100-degree days may be over for the year. If so, the (1954)record will stand."

You can’t just leave people with a cliffhanger like that, the reader reminded us. So, we made another call to Meteorologist Robb Lawson at the National Weather Service office in Wichita. "What was the final total? Did we set a new record?" And the answer is ... drum roll ...

It’s a tie.

"The total 100-degree days this year was 50," Lawson said. The tally includes one in May, seven in June, 25 July, 13 in August, and four in September.

Those temperatures were measured by a National Weather Service senor located two miles northeast of Larned in Pawnee County. That location averages 15 days a year where the temperature rises to 100 degrees or higher.

Most days, the temperature reported for Great Bend is from a sensor at the municipal airport, maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration, Lawson said. However, since NWS doesn’t maintain it, the weather service doesn’t have complete measurements for questions such as this.