Secondary severe weather season approaching

We are less than two weeks away from the start of October, which officially starts mid-Missouri’s secondary severe weather season. It’s not uncommon for mid-Missouri to see storms throughout the year, especially as we transition from winter into the warmer months. This time period is called our primary severe weather season and marks when we see the greatest number of tornadoes.

The attached graphic shows that mid-Missouri typically sees most of our tornadoes during the months of April, May, and June, before dropping off by July and August. However, we see a slight increase in tornadoes as we transition into October, with an average of 2 tornadoes a year.

The reason behind this has a lot to do with the cooler air that filters in from the north, creating an unstable environment. Weather conditions begin to change in October and set us up for our second round of severe weather.

As we transition into fall, the upper-level jet stream will slowly begin to track south across the country. It’s during this time that cooler air begins to displace the warmer air. This usually creates a cold front at the surface, which mixes with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico and gives us our severe weather threat.

There have been some noteworthy October severe weather outbreaks here in mid-Missouri, from the tornado in Saline and Pettis counties in 2004 that caused $300,000 worth of damage, to the two EF-2 tornadoes that killed two people and injured 2 others in 2007.

These tornadoes are just a great reminder that while we aren’t in our primary severe weather season, tornadoes can happen any time of the year and it’s important to be prepared. You want to make sure you have a severe weather safety plan if you are at home, at work, or on the road.