Experts Warn Missouri is now a Top 3 State in the US for Tornados

Missouri is on pace to have a record year for tornados and now experts are saying it is one of the 3 states where you are most likely to encounter a tornado in the US. Here is a look at the alarming numbers...

According to an article from stlpr.org, Missouri is behind only Texas and Oklahoma when it comes to tornado activity in 2024. Apparently, Missouri is having one of its most active tornado seasons on record, but tornado numbers are up across the US this year as a whole.

What is going on in Missouri specifically? In the article, they say "With 184 warnings, Missouri is also ranked third nationally for the most 2024 tornadoes, after Texas, with 216, and Oklahoma, with 195...the proliferation of smartphones and people just having a camera in their pocket at all times makes it a lot easier for people to document those tornadoes..." The article does go on to note that only the years 2006 and 2011 had more tornados at this point in the calendar than in 2024. There were only 53 tornados in Missouri at this time last year, so far this year that number has tripled to 184, to learn more about the rise of tornados in the Show-Me State, click here!

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Is Missouri in trouble?

My gut says no...This year is a total outlier so far compared to the last couple of years. But I will add that if you live in Missouri every 5 or so years you have to be prepared for a year where you are going to see a lot of tornados, that seems to just be the way of life in the Show-Me State according to the data in the article. I do think the expert in the article makes some sense when he says the rise in tornados could be more based on whether we have better technology to capture the tornados vs the weather changing. 30 years ago it was harder to capture and document a tornado, now we catch almost everyone.