Stormy Night

Like they say, "If you don't like the weather in the Ozarks, wait a few minutes." It's been strange this week, unseasonably warm. The other day the temperature hit 70 degrees. At night, it's only been getting down in the 50s.

Then last night it got pretty wild. Several tornadoes rolled through Southwest Missouri. They kept coming all night. Between 7 p.m. and 3:30 there was at least one tornado on the ground somewhere in the Ozarks. The town of Strafford, along I-44, had a long track of destruction north of town and another track on the south side of town. One person was killed there and another person died in Marshfield.

Marshfield and Republic were the worst hit. An elementary in Republic lost its roof and many houses were leveled in Marshfield. There were also several houses flattened in Highlandville.

The whole thing ended with a big grand finale. A solid line of storms, stretching from north of Lebanon, Missouri all the way south to the Arkansas border, swept through the area with straight winds of 80 m.p.h. It was like a tiny hurricane.