On March 31, 2023, a horrific tornado outbreak would take place across large portions of the southern, eastern, and midwestern United States. The outbreak would cause around 146 tornados to touch down. Two of these tornados would end up ripping through Johnson County, destroying everything in their path. Cars were flipped and roofs flew off of houses, soaring toward the charcoal-colored clouds above. Shops and residential areas alike were torn apart like they were made of cardboard. My mom was working in the ER at the time of the tornadoes, several people came in with injuries sustained from the twisting vortex of air. A couple of years before the tornado, Iowa City and surrounding areas were impacted by a massive derecho as well. This shows our city has a history of severe weather-related issues, that’s why people must take necessary precautions in case of severe weather,
I recall going for a walk that faithful afternoon, a mere 30 minutes before the tornado dropped down. I was walking southeast, zoning out. That’s when my phone began to buzz in my pocket, It was a tornado warning. It stated that just to my southeast, a tornado was rapidly developing and moving northwest. I got to my house just in time. I hid in a storage room inside my basement, the stingy concrete walls sealed me away from the outside world like a vault in a bank. As I lay in a fetal position in the storage room, the tornado wreaked havoc in the Coralville strip, everything in its path lay in ruin, it seemed like a nuke had gone off in our city. The tornado ended up touching down only a couple of miles from where I had been walking. We had also been heading directly towards each other.
There is a good chance weather awareness saved my life that day. I’m far from the only one who was impacted by the Tornado, a little under 40 people in the ICCSD took a survey about their weather experiences. 46% said that their property or the property of someone they know suffered damage during last spring’s tornados.
“We were in Dallas, TX during the 3/31/23 tornado, and I sat in the hallway of the random hotel watching the weather radar on the KCRG app worried about all my friends at home. The tornado went right over our house, but it lifted so our house was thankfully completely fine” Someone who took the survey said.
“During the tornadoes in March 2023, I was out with my mom when the sirens went off and we had to go and hide in Newton Ramp. I thought I might die ngl” One of the other survey participants said.
Tornados aren’t the only type of severe weather to impact Iowa City lately. 78% of people said their property or the property of someone they know suffered damage from the Derecho.
“The Derecho took down my shed in my yard, we had to rebuild it” Responded one student.
Another said, “Our backyard got flooded because of the Derecho, and we still have yet to fix the tree.”
38% of people say that their house or the home of someone they know has taken damage from hail before. 100% said that they think we experience a lot of snow days.
“The snow we got during January this year caused a tree to fall on my car, but thankfully enough snow was already covering my car to protect it.” Said a survey participant.
As you can see, severe weather is a large issue in Iowa City, these surveys didn’t even account for events like flooding which Iowa City has a bad history with, or tornadic events before March 31, 2023.
Some people may think the chance of Iowa City getting hit is impossible as tornados avoid larger cities. This simply isn’t true. This is a misconception caused by the fact that in movies and most pieces of media, tornados are typically featured in rural areas. In reality, nothing is stopping a tornado from forming in downtown Chicago, the reason there are more tornados in rural areas is simply because rural areas take up much more land than the downtowns of cities so more tornados happen in rural areas, chances are however the same.
With such a bad history involving weather, it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when the next severe weather incident happens. And with global warming, the chance of severe weather grows every year. That’s why it is very important to stay aware of the weather.
Staying aware of the weather saves lives and can be the difference between a disaster and a disaster avoided. Tornado season recently started and due to the transition from El Nino to La Nina, we are at an even higher risk for tornados this year than normal. That being said, it doesn’t matter if 2024 is an above or below-average tornado year, because all it takes is one tornado to change your life forever.
These are my reasons why I think that everyone should stay more aware of the weather this tornado season, staying aware hurts nothing and can save everything. I encourage everyone to plan out a tornado safety plan with their family, stay up to date on severe weather risks, and make sure they have a safe spot inside their house in case of an emergency. These precautions could save your life.
