Weather & Natural Hazards
Lightning, hail & damaging wind
A Missouri thunderstorm brings more than lightning. The same storm can drop big hail, blast out straight-line winds, and knock the power out for days. The good news: each one has a clear, simple move — and the most important is the one you already know by heart.
The one rule that saves lives
When thunder roars, go indoors
When thunder roars, go indoors. If you can hear thunder, you're close enough to be struck. The only safe places are a substantial enclosed building with wiring and plumbing, or a hard-topped vehicle with the windows up. A tent, picnic shelter, porch, dugout, carport, golf cart, or open-sided building is NOT safe.
Wait 30 minutes after the last rumble of thunder before you go back outside. Most lightning deaths happen to people who went back out too soon.
Once you're inside
Getting indoors isn't quite the end of it
Once you're inside, stay off corded phones and away from plumbing, wiring, and windows — lightning can travel through pipes and wires. (On the water in a boat? See the Boating hub — get off the water at the first thunder.)
On the water when a storm builds? There's no safe place from lightning on a boat — head in and get off the water at the first thunder. See the Boating hub for storm safety afloat.
Falling ice
Hail
Hail can run from pea-size to baseball-size and bigger. Bring people, pets, and vehicles under cover, and stay away from windows, which can shatter.
Not every wind disaster is a tornado
Straight-line winds & derechos
Not every wind disaster is a tornado. Straight-line winds in a thunderstorm can top 60, 70, even 100 mph and flatten trees, roofs, and power lines. Take a wind-driven Severe Thunderstorm Warning as seriously as a tornado warning — get to an interior room.
A derecho is a long-lived, fast-moving line of severe storms that can do tornado-like wind damage across hundreds of miles. If one is forecast, treat it like a wide-area wind emergency: charge devices, secure loose outdoor items, and be ready to shelter.
A "Destructive" warning is a phone-buzzing warning
A Severe Thunderstorm Warning marked 'Destructive' means winds of 80 mph or more, or hail 2.75 inches or larger — as dangerous as some tornadoes. It automatically triggers a Wireless Emergency Alert on phones in the area. Treat it that seriously: move inside to an interior room, away from windows, and protect yourself from flying glass and falling debris.
When the lights go out
Power outages
Big storms bring big outages. A July 2006 storm complex left about 500,000 customers without power around St. Louis. The power-outage card below covers how to ride one out safely.
Carbon monoxide is the hidden killer
How to ride out a power outage safely
Generators, grills & stoves
Run a generator OUTDOORS only — more than 20 feet from every door, window, and vent, with the exhaust pointed away from the house. Never run one inside a house, garage, basement, carport, or enclosed porch, even with the doors or windows open. The same goes for grills and camp stoves, and never heat your home with a gas oven or stovetop. Carbon monoxide from these is invisible, odorless, and kills.
CO & smoke alarms, space heaters
Keep working, battery-backed carbon-monoxide and smoke alarms on every level of your home. Keep space heaters at least 3 feet from anything that can burn, and never leave one running unattended or while you sleep. If a CO alarm sounds, or anyone gets a headache, dizziness, or nausea, get everyone outside into fresh air and call 911.
Food in the fridge
Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors shut — a closed fridge holds safe temperatures about 4 hours, a full freezer about 48. When in doubt about food, throw it out.
Downed power lines
Treat every downed power line as live and deadly — stay far back, keep others back, and report it to the utility and 911. Don't drive over downed lines or through water near them.
Medical equipment
If anyone relies on powered medical equipment — oxygen, a CPAP, refrigerated medicine, a powered wheelchair — have a backup-power plan and a place to go before the outage, and tell your utility you have a medical need on the account.
Warming & cooling centers
In a long outage, communities open warming or cooling centers. Check with your county emergency management, and go early if your home is getting dangerously cold or hot.
When a warning is issued
Missouri Porch explains the hazard; the National Weather Service and your local officials call the warning.
Last checked: 2026-06-18. Hazards repeat, so most of this page stays true year to year — but alert-product names, the year's stats, and the ShakeOut date can change. Check the date above, and always follow the live National Weather Service warning and your local officials over anything written here.
This site explains and prepares — it is not a live warning. When a warning is issued, follow it and your local emergency officials immediately; they have the live picture. This is not insurance, legal, or medical advice. In any life-threatening emergency, call 911.
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