Weather officials say they’re seeing an increase in severe storms so far throughout the region.
Robert Frye is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield.
“So far this year we’re not even a week into April yet and we’ve already surpassed all the reports that we received last year.”
The National Weather Service Office in Springfield serves 37 counties in southwest Missouri and three counties in southeast Kansas, according to Frye. So far this year, there have been 10 tornadoes reported within the region.
Two of those tornadoes happened Tuesday night, inflicting damage on the small towns of Goodman and Washburn.
“The estimated highest peak wind was around 120 (mph) which makes this an EF-2 tornado there in the Goodman area. The path length was right around 15 miles or so, and it was about 300 yards wide.”
Most of the damage consisted of structural and tree damage, including to an elementary school. There were no reported causalities.
As for the tornado that touched down in Washburn, Frye says it was classified as an EF-1 tornado, and it primarily damaged trees and a local chicken farm. That tornado’s path was a mile and a half long, and was 200 yards wide.
While another round of storms are possible this weekend, Frye says a different weather occurrence could disrupt things; freezing temperatures.
“Temperatures will be in the fifties, and also overnight lows may drop off to near freezing, in fact we’re looking at the possibility of frost Friday morning.”
Frye says that this could be damaging since it’s the beginning of the planting and growing season for crops and gardens throughout the area.
See the full National Weather Service report on the tornados here.