COULD A TRI-STATE TORNADO HAPPEN AGAIN?

Missouri Severe Weather Awareness Week 2000 will take place from March 13 -17. The 26th annual Statewide Severe Weather Drill will be on Tuesday, around 1:30 p.m. The drill will take place as scheduled unless there is a serious threat of severe weather. The back-up day will be Thursday, also around 1:30 p.m.

March 18, (Saturday) will be the 75th anniversary of what is believed to be the single worst tornado event in United States history; The Tri-State Tornado. The tornado (or family of tornadoes, no one is really sure) started near Ellington, MO, in Reynolds County, at about 1 p.m.

The tornado moved northeast for 219 miles across southeast Missouri, southern Illinois and finally into southwest Indiana before dissipating. For three and a half hours, more people would die, more schools would be destroyed, more students and farmers would be killed, and more deaths would occur in a single city than from any tomado in U.S. history.

Records were also set for speed, path length, and probably for other categories that can"t be measured so far in the past. Close to 700 people died and a little over 2,000 were injured. The majority of the deaths and injuries occurred in Illinois and Indiana. Most records indicate there were 11 deaths in Missouri.

Can a Tri-State tornado happen again? A tornado that powerful is certainly possible. One needs only to remember the Oklahoma City tornado of this year to realize that extremely powerful tornadoes can happen any year.

One thing that will be different though will likely be the death toll. A lot has happened since 1925. For one thing, a tornado of this magnitude will not be a surprise. By utilizing the WSR-88D radar and our trained network of Severe Storm Spotters, the National Weather Service (NWS) will know about the tornado and will have warnings out. The media will broadcast the warnings enabling thousands of people to know what is coming. This didn't happen in 1925.

In many areas, homes are built better than they were in 1925. Basements are more common now providing shelter that may not have been available in years past. And today, in homes without basements, building a "shelter room" in the home is becoming increasingly popular.

Yes, we are in better shape today. But we cannot rest and expect everything to be OK. We must continue to make advancements in detection and mitigation.

So ask yourself, is your community ready if a deadly tornado heads your way? Are there storm spotters helping the NWS locate the storm? Can the community receive the warnings in a timely manner, either via NOAA Weather Radio or the commercial media? Will schools, hospitals and other public facilities be notified?

No one wants another Tri-State, but if it happens, hopefully your community will be as ready as possible.

Jim Kramper is Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in St. Louis.