It was sort of a weather phenomenon: three tornado warnings in Arkansas and four tornado warnings in southwest Missouri issued in a hot summer month that doesn't normally experience severe outbreaks.
But Sunday, Aug. 19, was a different day. Meteorologists across a large area spanning at least three states were carefully gauging the weather as the weather turned volatile and conditions quickly disintegrated.
While the weather turned wicked, one local teenager took the opportunity to learn more about the significant weather outbreak.
Goodman emergency manager Denis Kolb and assistant manager Keith Kohley tracked the storms during that outbreak, along with Elizabeth Pogue.
Pogue of Goodman has been interested in meteorology from the young age of 7 or 8 when she and her family experienced a harrowing incident at her grandma's house in Tennessee. The tornado last year in Goodman sparked her interest even further. She and her family found shelter in the emergency management office during the Goodman tornado, when the wind began to howl, the sky turned yellow-green and hail came down.
Since coming through that scary situation, Pogue has been even more motivated to learn more about the weather, with a goal of becoming a meteorologist to help people. The teenager has sat in with the local emergency management crews several times over the past year as they track storms in the area. This time was no exception.
For Pogue, the evening was a chance to train and learn more about the development of dicey weather situations.
The 18-year-old doesn't want to see harm come to anyone but does like to observe storms as they develop.
"I like to see what can cause storms to fire up," she said.
"Our house is by an open field and I can see shelf clouds," she said, adding that she loves to take all kinds of photos of storms rolling in.
On that rare night of tornadic conditions, Pogue was stationed at the emergency management office. Kolb asked Pogue to track particular storms as they were developing. The one that started to develop in Tiff City eventually evolved into a storm with 52-mph winds. That growing storm prompted a tornado warning in the eastern part of McDonald County.
Pogue finds tracking and getting a first-hand look at how the storms develop fascinating.
"The weather can change really fast. It's amazing what weather can do," she said. "I was really excited to see the storms popping up. The eastern portion of McDonald County just exploded."
Pogue is dedicated to helping people stay safe in bad weather conditions. She recently completed and received two certificates for online storm spotter training and works to learn more about the ever-changing weather.
Next year, she hopes to put together a report, comparing tornado season to tornado season, tracking storms and putting some statistics together.
Meanwhile, she will continue to take advantage of any impending weather situation to learn more about Mother Nature.
It's satisfying to keep on top of damaging and devastating storms.
"When all the storms had passed, Denis said, 'We did it!'' Pogue said.
"And he gave me a high five."
General News on 09/06/2018