The pictures was taken this spring
west of Maysville and south of King City and first appeared on the Northwest Missouri Storm Warn page. Storm Warn has been up for about five years. Most of the pictures are taken by Jerry Buzzard of Maysville while he is out and about, but a few are sent in by followers.
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Jerry says his scariest experience as a storm watcher happened about six or seven years ago, when a tornado went through part of Fairport, north of Maysville.
“I was probably only about 200 yards from the destruction path,” he says. “It was a small tornado, so I was safe. But, it happened at night.”
Jerry, who says he is related to the Kings around Gallatin, was five weeks old, when a tornado blew his mother, himself, and his two brothers out of a house near Maysville.
“Actually, as a small child, I was terrified of storms,” Jerry says. “Then when I was about 18, I saw a tornado up close. I was hooked. I used to just alert my friends of impending severe weather, then I thought, why not just alert all of northwest Missouri.”
Storm Warn welcomes new viewers. Currently 17,763 ‘like’ the page and 17,812 actually follow the page on Facebook.
The 2019 tornado season got off to a deadly start, ramped up to a record-setting May then settled down for a stretch producing fewer tornadoes than usual from June through August so far.
And while September through November are not peak tornado months, AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok says that things aren’t over yet.
According to AccuWeather’s Late-Season Tornado Outlook forecasts, based on AccuWeather research, there will be roughly 50-60 tornadoes in September, roughly 40-50 in October and approximately 65-75 in November, with the prime area of activity taking place in Gulf Coast and Tornado Alley states.
The 25-year average number of United States tornadoes for September, October and November is 66, 58 and 56, respectively, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Storm Prediction Center.
AccuWeather now estimates the total number of tornadoes for 2019 will be between 1,350 and 1,425.
“The Gulf Coast states will see activity early in September, and it could be tornadoes or heavy rainfall,” Pastelok said. “We have seen many times that tropical systems can contribute to the total count in September.
“We may have to watch November closely, because while it will get cool and unfavorable in October, things can ramp up again in November with an active storm track from the Rockies into the middle of the nation. We are forecasting a below-normal tornado count in October but above normal in November,” Pastelok added.
AccuWeather’s 2019 forecast released in February accurately pinpointed the areas to be hit hardest this year, with a higher frequency of severe weather risks in the traditional Tornado Alley — notably Oklahoma, Kansas, and parts of Texas — than they had experienced on average the previous three years.
So far this year, Texas, with 170 tornadoes, has experienced the most in the U.S., according to preliminary, unconfirmed data from NOAA. Kansas is second with 123, while Oklahoma with 90 is fourth behind Mississippi, which has had 94.