By Robert Johnson
Managing editor

March roars in like a lion, and if you’ve never spent a spring in Missouri, you may find this to be exceptionally true here. March Madness often refers to college basketball, but here in the Ozarks, that madness can often be found in the clouds overhead.

You have to set the stage for disaster, and every spring, Mother Nature does just that. Warm air laden with moisture drifts up from the Gulf of Mexico giving us ample rain and warm days. The warmth is refreshing after months of freezing temperatures, but it is only the first act in a weather tragedy. Cold air from Canada is not ready to give up on winter and the two air masses collide … literally over our heads.

The result can be horrific storms with pea-, golf ball-  and softball-sized hail. Tornadoes can rip through the Show Me state when conditions allow. In 2008, conditions allowed 89 tornadoes to touch down in Missouri, taking 19 people’s lives with them.

But it’s not just the tornadoes to be concerned with during these storms. Rain, and lots of it, can saturate the ground quickly allowing the water to run off, flooding streams and rivers. In 2007, Fort Leonard Wood Fire Department personnel had to risk their own lives to save stranded Soldiers who ventured into flowing floodwaters. The Soldiers’ humvee had been swept from the road in a blink. Crossing flooded roads is extremely dangerous, and according to floodsmart.gov, last year more than 200 people in the U.S. died in floodwaters with 76 percent being vehicle related. Never attempt to cross floodwater.

Don’t let the warm weather storms fool you. When it’s warm one day, and that distant thunderstorm puts you to sleep, you can pretty much count on the next day for the weather to be quite different than the previous day.

March can still give us snow, sleet, frost and everyone’s favorite, freezing rain. Sometimes that gentle rain becomes a thin sheet of ice on bridges and overpasses. The freezing rain can coat your car with a layer of ice along with the road, trees and power lines. The snap, crackle and pop you’ll hear won’t be your cereal, it’s the trees exploding under the weight of the ice.

Before Mother Nature unleashes her fury on the Ozarks, take a moment and review the tornado information from the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence Safety Office on page A3. They even have a great pamphlet covering what to do during this violent weather month.

And while you are at it, plan to participate in Fort Leonard Wood’s Severe Spring Weather Month drill at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday.

Being prepared for bad weather is one way to keep March Madness on the basketball court.