Springfield (Joplin, Nixa, Ozark: house, to buy, tornado)

[ssdf]

Ok folks . . . what small communities outside of Springfield can still hear the tornado sirens . . . and which ones would you recommend for inexpensive housing and nice areas. Thanks alot.

[MoMark]

I live six miles north of I-44 and cannot hear sirens in Springfield, but my friends there will call me and warn me if they go off.

[DeeMac]

Twenty-five minutes to Springfield, 35 minutes to Joplin. A beautiful town on I-44. The leaves are changing right now and our fall festival, Apple Butter Makin' Days, is celebrating its 40th year next weekend.

[Ozarks21]

I think every small town around here has its own sirens. If you live in the country you won't hear them. As for nice smaller communities, Mount Vernon, Bolivar, Marshfield are all within 1/2 hour of Springfield. Ozark, Nixa, Republic and Rogersville are nice, and closer to Springfield, but I think housing is getting expensive in those areas at about the same pace as Springfield.

[wezey]

Depends if you still work as to where you might want to consider. Seymour is growing and not too far from Springfield, but maybe a little further than you want to drive. I would probably want Rogersville or Mt Vernon. Nixa is getting way too expensive in most areas as is Ozark because it is closer to Branson. You need to just make a trip to Springfield and take a drive if you can. I have lived in southern MO and northern AR most all my life and have never yet been in a tornado. Storms, yes, but not tornados.

[toddm]

All of the small towns around Springfield have a warning system. Also, all of the radio and TV outlets do a great job of alerting everyone when there is a severe thunderstorm or tornado threat. Lots of interupting your programs for live Dopler radio feeds, for example.

The Weather Service operates whats known as NOAA weather radio and it is on 24/7/365. You can get a monitor for about $30 that you can program to pickup the forecast for your area and to sound an alert for any watches or warnings. When the tornado warning tone goes off at 2:00 AM, it WILL wake you up . It also monitors for Amber Alert and Homeland Security broadcasts.

[spfd4um]

We live near Strafford and we can hear the sirens from there.

[2beamissourian]

I presently live In Illinois and we have a new siren put in a few years back........if the winds are strong we do not always hear them-
word of advice start learning the signs and dont 2nd guess them!

Last year I was almost stuck in my house ........the tornados that came through and knocked power on Illinois and Missouri side - yep those !
I 2nd guessed them ..and my daughter and I were near stuck in the house .. we had to pull the door and push.........and go to our neighbors basement ... I left the door wide open - I believe we would of lost our house if I had not done that!

There is a divice you can buy it has battery back up and will cost about $30 dollars it is connected to the National Weather thing- and I get noticed through it before I hear any sirens!
I would highly recoment anyone to buy one!

[Darren Stewart]

I have lived in Missouri, ( Springfield and Ozark) for the last 20 years, it really sometimes depends on where you live if you can or can not hear the sirens, Nixa, Ozark and Springfield I know all have them.

We also have the National weather service that alerts us to thunderstorm watches, and warnings along with tornado watches and warnings.

To clarify a watch means just be careful and prudent, keep your eyes and ears open tuned to a radio or television and see what they are saying in the weather reports.

A warning means we have either a thunderstorm in progress and in the case of a tornado warning that means one is in the air or on the ground somewhere in Southwest Missouri.

While they can be very strong storms the warning systems are getting better and better all the time.