Twisters

Today marked a rather rare weather event in Iowa. A wide tornado made its way across the central part of the state today in one of the earliest twisters on record for this time of year.

It was an unexpectedly stormy day in Illinois today. There were a half dozen reports of tornadoes that touched down in the Land of Lincoln including a couple videos showing the twisters as they were touching down.

It wasn't the largest and didn't do the most damage, but there was a northeast Missouri tornado in 1977 that could easily qualify as one of the strangest the area has ever seen.

It was one of the worst tornado outbreaks in history and it began in Missouri one year ago today. By the time the twisters lifted back into the clouds, 89 souls had been lost due to twisters some referred to as "The Beast".

A storm chaser was after a large tornado in Missouri when he made one crucial mistake and found himself getting slammed by the twister he was chasing.

I grew up in the Hannibal/Quincy area and tend to be a weather nerd, but have never heard of this historic storm. It was the most devastating tornado in northeast Missouri history and it claimed 14 lives back in March of 1876.

We have been fortunate to not have many strong tornadoes do much damage in northeast Missouri the past few years. However, there is quite a history of twisters that have devasted the area including 3 that occurred in the 1940's that went through Hannibal and Palmyra.

The series of Iowa tornadoes that devasted areas near Des Moines over the weekend now has a Missouri connection. 3 of the 7 who lost their life in those storms were from one Missouri family.

You don't see tornadoes this powerful in January very often, but 55 years ago a killer twister tore through St. Louis County leaving massive damage and loss of life.

This should be a teachable moment for anyone who chases or wants to chase thunderstorms. New video shows what happened when a guy following one of the twisters in Missouri Sunday accidentally drove right into the path. He fortunately lived to tell about it.