Moving to SW Missouri from Arizona!

[Arrby]

Originally Posted by Pfeigle

Is south of Springfield more active for bad storms? Ice storms, snow, tornados?

No.

In Missouri and Arkansas, ice storms are comparatively rare from I-70 north and I-40 south. An ice storm requires warm, moisture laden air aloft and cold air on the surface. Too far south and you do not get the cold surface air very often. Too far north and you do not get the warm, wet air mass aloft. At a guess, they will be most common 150 miles north or south of the Ark. border. They really do not occur anywhere in this region often enough to warrant altering one's choice of residence.

Severe storms "seem" to happen more often around Springfield because that is where the most people live and consequently where the most news and weather reporters concern themselves. Many arm chair theorists have posited this or that area as being less or more affected by severe weather, only to come up against the hard statistics showing a remarkably even distribution of severe weather over this entire region. Take a look at http://nathazmap.com/hazards/tornado. But notice that it covers only the period from 1950 to 2004 - not a very large statistical sample when dealing with comparatively rare and random phenomena.

Do not misunderstand me, however; when I built my house I built a poured reinforced concrete basement complete with a storm room.