Kansas City residents are no stranger to the chaotic climate of spring — thunderstorms, wind gales and hail that can break through a windshield or roof.
But you’re not wrong to wonder if this year has been stormier than usual. Missouri state climatologist Zachary Leasor said the state averages about 40 tornadoes a year, and 2026 has already seen 41.
Surprisingly, this year is actually trailing behind 2025, which was one of the busiest tornado years in Missouri history, with 75 tornadoes by early May.
But 2026 could catch up soon: May is typically one of the biggest months for tornado weather, Leasor told KCUR. The major cause of this year’s high number of storms was unusually high temperatures in March and April.
“The two months combined have been about seven degrees above our average,” he said. “What that’s done is that’s opened up our severe weather season a little bit earlier. Warmer temperatures tend to lead to stormier weather in the spring.”
Despite the frequency of tornadoes in Missouri, the storms themselves haven’t caused much damage. All of them have been rated EF0 or EF1, with wind speeds below 110 miles per hour, Leasor said.
“These are relatively weak tornadoes,” he said.
Tornado frequency should drop off starting in June, Leasor told KCUR. They sometimes happen later in the year, but it’s rare.
Leasor spoke to KCUR for an episode of Kansas City Today. The following interview highlights have been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
On the impact of climate change on tornadoes
Ultimately, we're seeing warming temperatures and we're expected to see those temperatures continue to rise. That can certainly lead to things like more available energy for extreme precipitation events. One thing we do know is that those warm temperatures are extending our severe weather season. The strongest warming trend that we see, for example, in Missouri and a lot of the Midwest, is warming overnight low temperatures and warming temperatures during the coldest times of the year.
Because of this, we have more opportunities outside of that typical climatological season that I've mentioned for tornado activity – so maybe more tornadoes in February or December, for example, than we've typically seen. Ultimately it's hard to get much more detail beyond that, on if we’re seeing an increase in severe weather in Missouri because of climate change.
On how residents should prepare for a busy tornado season
The number-one thing is to really make sure you know how to get a forecast, whether it's a local meteorologist or the National Weather Service. Also, have a plan on what to do if, and when, severe weather occurs.
Living here in Missouri, we just know we're going to get severe weather. Over the next month, knowing that's one of our most active months of the year, [it’s] a good month to maybe pay more attention to the forecast and heed any kind of guidance that you get, whether it's a watch or a warning or outlook.
On the impact of severe weather on communities
These events have very significant impacts to the economy, and it's very typical for Missouri to have a couple of billion-dollar severe weather outbreaks during the course of a calendar year. Tornadoes, whenever they move through any kind of populated area, definitely cause lots of financial damage.
Hail is another one across Missouri. If you get a hailstorm that moves across a metro area, that can quickly result in large amounts of automobile and property damage that needs to be mitigated as well. Damaging winds, too. Severe weather accounts generally for 50% of Missouri's costs of dangerous weather and climate hazards. All of these outbreaks are extremely costly for the state.
On how recent policy changes have affected weather forecasts
When we think about the funding for a tornado warning, there's a lot of resources there, whether it's infrastructure, things like radar, models, measurements — these are all needed to create a good forecast and then to evaluate the forecasts as well. People are needed, whether it's a forecaster, an emergency manager, a climatologist, to analyze this as well.
There has been a lot of unsteady funding for some of the sources of data that we look at for severe weather. It's difficult, though, to tell if any of those changes have had an impact on the forecast.
I'd say regardless of any changes, there are always blind spots and needs for improvement for these severe weather forecasts. Speaking for Missouri in particular: The way the National Weather Service offices are oriented around the state, there's places that are maybe close to 100 miles from the nearest radar on either side, and they just aren't served by the National Weather Service radars like places that are closer to the offices.
So that impacts our ability to see rotation on the radar. It impacts our ability to measure precipitation with the radar, and you can have things slip through the cracks, whether it's a warning that didn't go out, or it's a local storm report that wasn't received to verify that warning. But on the flip side, I think those are areas of improvement, and I know these areas have been specifically identified by the National Weather Service and various partners. And work is going into looking at that.
