The Calm Without the Storm

One positive side effect of having a virtually storm free spring has been a tornado free season as well.

Not one person was killed in the United States by a tornado in April, May or June, for the first time since record-keeping started in 1950. Those three months are normally the peak tornado season, but weather officials say this has been an unusual year.

In fact, for the first time on record, not a single tornado formed in Oklahoma during May. "Tornado Alley" -- as defined by the federal Storm Prediction Center -- starts in central Texas and stretches north across Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Only four tornado warnings were issued for April, May and June in the 35-county area covered by the National Weather Service in Lincoln. That region covers much of Central and Southeastern Illinois.

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The tornado season has been unusually quiet in the area because of the drought, meteorologist Brad Churchill said.

"You can't get tornadoes if you can't get thunderstorms," he said.

Meanwhile, here in Springfield, I think city officials may be looking toward the day this summer when water conservation becomes necessary. I heard one official interviewed on WUIS yesterday bemoaning the fact that he sees a lot of driveways and sidewalks being watered in the city. He suggested some voluntary conservation might be in order even though Lake Springfield is not unusually low at this point.