Tornado prone areas? (St. Louis, St. Charles, Florissant: houses, purchase, new construction)

[DennisF6]

Are some areas around St Louis more likely to get tornadoes than others?

Related question - how common is it for homes to have storm shelters / safe rooms?

[Dawn10am]

St. Charles County and North St. Louis County always seem to get the worst weather. St. Charles just got hit by an F3 about two weeks ago and the airport in North County took a direct hit a few years back. The safer areas seem to be south of 70 and east of 270. And I think most homes (even new construction) have basements in most of the metro area.

[glamatomic]

I honestly haven't seen any dedicated storm shelters, aside from at some really old houses in the region. Dawn10am is correct though that the vast majority of homes have basements. The majority of the slab foundation homes I've seen out there were built in the 50s-60s (gosh knows why you'd build a house here without a basement!).

I also agree that it seems to be parts of St. Charles which seem to be the most prone- as well as North County (particularly the North West kind of area- Bridgeton, Hazelwood, etc).

[MoSouthernMan]

This has been a strange year for tornadoes.

However minus the good Friday tornado, the other tornadoes didn't develop from tradition singular supercells like the monsters in southern Missouri, and the plains like in Oklahoma do, but rather formed along more linear, squall line type storms.

Also another reason why Stl doesn't get tons of severe weather is because of the urban heat island. Note how a lot of times storms weaken when they near stl but then when they get over the rural IL farmland the get stronger again due to the rural, moist land.

There has been studies on this and Dave Murray also talks about the heat island as well and the effects on severe weather. He even has a commercial that explains it on channel 2.

The heat island makes our air drier and a couple degrees warmer mostly in the warm months. Note in the summer if gets a couple degrees warmer in St. Louis than the rural areas, however while the temperature is warmer the dewpoint and humidity you will notice is lower than the rural areas. Storms feed off the drier air over the city and they don't like that.

[marigolds6]

You might find this useful. It only covers 1950 to 2011, but you can definitely see patterns (even a couple of tornadoes with near identical tracks).
https://stlcooem.maps.arcgis.com/hom...2531bfa549340b

[BubbyBobble]

Hazelhood for some reason. Has NOT been fun.

[kylertexeira]

So what areas tend to be less prone to tornadoes? How is Florissant?

[glamatomic]

Originally Posted by kylertexeira

So what areas tend to be less prone to tornadoes? How is Florissant?

Well, according to neighbors on one side (who've been here since 1964) our subdivision has never been hit as long as they've lived here!

I think it's kind of hit or miss in North County though- Hazelwood has sustained damage during the last 2 tornadoes, and I know Maryland Heights (technically Northwest County) copped it pretty bad the other year during the same tornado that hit the Airport.

The majority of the tornadoes that roll through North County seem to hit lower (below I-270). As for areas in the St. Louis region that seem to be less prone, from the tornado mapping it seems to be Creve Coeur, Olivette, Ladue, Frontenac, etc. Of course, these areas are also among the most expensive in the St. Louis region

It's definitely a calculated risk moving anywhere in 'tornado alley'- but the way I see it, is anywhere you live is going to be prone to natural disasters of some nature. Just make sure you've got a house with a basement, and a battery operated radio.

Also, the Tornado Siren system has been recently upgraded here in Florissant (it may have been upgraded through the entire county, I'm not sure) and so the sirens are definitely loud enough and give you plenty of notice and time to get down to your basement! It's always better to be safe than sorry, after all!

[marigolds6]

The entire county was upgraded and you should be able to hear a siren virtually anywhere outside. The exceptions are the interior of Babler, Forest 44 Conservation area, and the Missouri confluence. We cannot place sirens in those areas, and they are large enough that sirens outside their borders do not reach into the interiors.
There was actually an article just published on this design process:
Intelligent Emergency Management | ArcNews
The better notice comes from a change in how the NWS does warnings, to give better lead time and more targeted warnings.

But, sirens are not designed to be heard inside, especially in homes with double pane windows. You should also purchase and configured a weather alert radio for your home and work. You can get more info, include the correct FIPS programming code here:
Weather-Alert Radios | Emergency Management | Law & Public Safety | St. Louis County, Missouri

You can also get phone notification applications, text notification via nixle.com, and many cell phones now receive EAS messages directly to the phone.

[MoSouthernMan]

Originally Posted by glamatomic

Well, according to neighbors on one side (who've been here since 1964) our subdivision has never been hit as long as they've lived here!

I think it's kind of hit or miss in North County though- Hazelwood has sustained damage during the last 2 tornadoes, and I know Maryland Heights (technically Northwest County) copped it pretty bad the other year during the same tornado that hit the Airport.

The majority of the tornadoes that roll through North County seem to hit lower (below I-270). As for areas in the St. Louis region that seem to be less prone, from the tornado mapping it seems to be Creve Coeur, Olivette, Ladue, Frontenac, etc. Of course, these areas are also among the most expensive in the St. Louis region

It's definitely a calculated risk moving anywhere in 'tornado alley'- but the way I see it, is anywhere you live is going to be prone to natural disasters of some nature. Just make sure you've got a house with a basement, and a battery operated radio.

Also, the Tornado Siren system has been recently upgraded here in Florissant (it may have been upgraded through the entire county, I'm not sure) and so the sirens are definitely loud enough and give you plenty of notice and time to get down to your basement! It's always better to be safe than sorry, after all!

Eastern MO isn't really in the heart of tornado alley.

The heart of that is SW Missouri,far south central MO, North Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Sure we get tornado here but USUALLY they are not the over one mile wide intense tornadoes you get in Oklahoma for example or in the south. The St Charles one last month that was a mile wide wedge is rare for around here.

The reason why they get the intense tornadoes in the heart of tornado alley and in Dixie alley is because they're closer to the gulf of mexico and more humid air. Hence why southern MO gets more storms too.

However far southern central Missouri and southeast Missouri actually fall within a newer used term named "Dixie Alley"