Last year was the year of the hurricane, is this the year of the tornado?

[MadHound]

*peeks head out of the basement*

Well, for my DU friends in OK, KS(hey MuseRider),Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois, I hope that you rode out yesterday and last night's storms and tornadoes out OK. I got lucky, had two tornadoes pass south of me, and one touch down a couple of miles east of me. Other than that, some high winds and large hail took down some trees and large limbs. However all across the Midwest there is massive damage.

Preliminary reports for Missouri show massive tornado damage in Pettis and Randolph county, along with damage from other tornadoes all across the state. Sedalia Missouri got a train of storms going across the small city, blowing away roofs and hurling houses blocks away. Even in areas not hit directly by a tornado storm damage was extensive. Hail and high winds(100-200mph) ravaged the entire state.

Death toll is at ten people and climbing, and the dollar total of damage won't be know for days or weeks. This set of storms(one round on Sat., three rounds on Sunday) comes a week before official tornado season starts, and the number of tornadoes over the weekend exceeded our normal number of tornadoes for the entire year. Eighty four tornadoes were detected over the weekend in Missouri alone, compared with an average number of twenty six. So, is this going to be the year of the tornado?

And a big shout out to see how the DUers in eastern Kansas are doing. I heard that KU is closed today, due to Lawrence and KU itself received extensive damage. Check in if you were in the path of this storm system, let us know you're doing OK. And for those of you further east, batten down the hatches, this system is rolling your way as we speak. Granted, the weather folks are saying that the system won't spawn as many tornadoes the further east it goes, but one never knows and all it takes is one tornado to ruin your day.

So will this be the year of the tornado? Let's hope not, but there have been some pretty good research done that correlates increased tornadic activity with the El-Nino, La-Nina cycle. If this weekend's storms are any incidation, we're going to be in for one hell of a year.

Again, if you were in the path of these storms, check in and let us know how you're doing. If you are currently in the path of this storm line, stay close to a basement and be ready to take cover at a moments notice. These storms are moving fast, and it can go from clear and sunny to a tornado within minutes.

[MadHound]

1. Kick n/t

[lizziegrace]

2. Springfield, IL

I watched a supercell on radar that was larger than the entire county where Springfield is located. I read this morning that "there's not a single inch of this city that hasn't been affected by these storms".

Unbelievable.

My nephew was with a professional storm chaser all 3 days this weekend. I can't wait to hear his stories.

Hope all are well too. Illinois DUer's check in too!

[MadHound]

3. Yeah, Springfield IL was the place that got hardest hit in IL

And none of these storms were small. Reports in Missouri put the minimum width of these twister at a quarter mile on the ground, and in some cases going all the way up to a mile wide on the ground. Absolutely devestating. Glad to hear you came through OK.

[lizziegrace]

4. I'm not in Springfield.

I did spend some time in Champaign/Urbana. I was watching the weather about the time that cell overtook the city and it was unbelievable how big it was.

I'm in Columbus. Our turn is today. :(

[MadHound]

5. Well, hopefully the weather forecast comes true for you

The weather people are saying that as this storm system moves east, it is going to produce fewer and fewer tornadoes, but will still have damaging straight line winds, hail and lightning. Better than tornadoes, but still not fun.

Keep an eye on the weather, and be ready to dive for cover. These storms are moving fast, most of the tornado cells yesterday were moving between fifty and seventy mph.

[lizziegrace]

6. The Habitat offices

are in a large metal warehouse. No basement and no real safe space. I hope the worst doesn't happen as we have nowhere to go!

:hi:

[Texasgal]

7. Hurricane season hasn't started yet..

:scared:

I hope that you and yours keep safe this season, I for one... can't wait of for the HAIL storms that are sure to come our way! :sarcasm:

[naturalselection]

8. Wow, that was one freaky day.

I live in Warrensburg, MO and we had 4 confirmed touch downs yesterday of tornadoes in our county. Now I have lived in the midwest all my life, but I have never been on pins and needles like I was yesterday. We live outside of town but can still hear the sirens, and they seemed to go off all day yesterday. We didn't have any damage, but had a tornado touch down about three miles north of our house.

The problem yesterday was every thing seemed to pick up after dark! I don't mind the storms while it is still light out, but the tornado that touched down 3 miles north of us was about 7:30pm! I really felt like it formed right over our house. It was raining hard, no wind. Then the rain stopped, and the wind blew like crazy. I ran downstairs and took cover with my family. But it was over within a minute. It was later that I heard on NOAA radio (which I think EVERYONE should have) that the tornado touched down a few miles north of us.

And yes, I am just like most people in the Midwest that tend to go outside to look around when we hear of a tornado warning. I have lived through several tornadoes in my life, but yesterday took the cake!

[MadHound]

9. Glad to hear you came through it all well

Pettis county, just east of you, got hammered yesterday.

Yeah, yesterday was one weird day, I hope it isn't a foreshadowing of things to come this year.

I had two tornadoes touch down about a mile south of my place yesterday afternoon, in Northern Callaway county, and another that touched down just east of my place outside of Auxvasse. Rough, rough day and night yesterday. Thankfully it looks like our weather is going to be calm for the next week, give us a chance to clean up the damage. I had enough trees and limbs down yesterday that I'll have half my woodheating needs met by the time I cut it all up.