Spring storms keep disrupting activities

WEATHERING THE SEASON

By Bob Miller ~ Southeast Missourian

Parts of Perry County were covered with hail twice Thursday morning, but the ice pieces in the Frohna and Altenberg area were small, and no damage was reported, said an official at the emergency management office in Perryville.

The storms cleared the area during the late morning, giving way to abnormally cool temperatures and a few sprinkles.

The hail, cool and rain were inconsequential in the small picture, but the frequency of these types of storms is taking a toll on Southeast Missouri.

Area farmers may not be able to get into their fields for another two weeks.

Staff at the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., have been so busy, they haven't had time to count the number of tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings that have been issued in the last two weeks.

According to Mary Lamm, a meteorologist with the weather service, there should be a brief break in the storm pattern that has introduced threatening weather to the four-state region almost daily over the last two weeks. The storms should continue next week, she said.

The reason for the frequent passing of storms, Lamm said, is that Mother Nature has turned stubborn.

"It's just a persistent weather pattern," she said. "We've had a general southwest flow in the upper level of the atmosphere and periodically, we get surface cold fronts. We've had a lot of warm, moist air accompanied by numerous storm systems within the flow."

Lamm said the frequency of the storms is much higher than in the last few years. The weather pattern has produced tornadoes in the Mississippi Valley region on three occasions in the last 10 days. But, she said, this type of system is not out of the ordinary considering the season.

"It is spring," she said.

It may be typical, but that doesn't make it any easier for farmers, said Terry Birk, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's farm service agency in Jackson, Mo.

"We've got some corn planted in the county, but by now we've normally got 95 percent of it planted," he said. "We don't have much at all planted right now."

Birk said, if there was no more rain for a week, farmers could probably get in their fields in seven days. But with more rain in the forecast for next week, "you're looking at May 15th or so before they can get to it," he said.

Birk said mid-May would be the latest that most farmers would plant corn. If planting is pushed beyond that, many will switch to soybeans or grain sorghum.

But it's not just the farmers who are tired of the storms.

Jessica Turner, a technician at Tan-It-All in Cape Girardeau, is ready for milder weather, too.

Last Wednesday, the Fruitland, Mo., woman feared for her aunt in the Bootheel when she heard of the tornado that pummeled a subdivision in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

"I don't like storms," she said. "When the power goes out, I'm late for work. I wish the storms would just go away. I don't mind the rain, but I'm not a storm person at all."

Apparently, Turner is not the only one.

The wave of storms has sent residents scurrying to buy weather radios. Many stores are sold out of the devices, programmed to sound an alarm when a warning is issued.

Sam's Club in Cape Girardeau had one weather radio in stock Thursday afternoon, but Radio Shack and Wal-Mart Supercenter were both sold out.

Radio Shack store manager Kevin Enax said his store has sold 75 to 80 recently.

Kris Baranovic, a Southeast Missouri State University student, however, hasn't made a big deal of the storms.

"I think it's kind of interesting; I like the change of pace," he said. "I always thought about what it would be like to live in Seattle. Now I know."

bmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127