It's Flowering Dogwood Time in My Corner

It's dogwood time in My Corner of the Ozarks. From mid-April to early May, the woodland understory, and many small town back yards are blessed with the showy blooms of the flowering dogwood, Cornus florida.  There are several other species of dogwoods, but only one with showy white bracts (not petals). The flowering dogwood occurs from east Texas to New York and is very common in the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks. 

The flowering dogwood was named the Missouri State Tree in 1955 by the legislature seventy years ago. It is also the state tree of Virginia and North Carolina. 

Many dogwoods decorate yards and byways.

Any excursion to the wooded countryside yields many spectacular views of our dogwoods. 

The redbud, Cercis canadaensis, flowers just before the dogwood each spring. The range of the redbud is similar to flowering dogwood extending a little further north in the Midwest. The combination of dogwood and redbud in early April brings wonderful color to the forest understory.

Early spring is a time of beauty in My Corner of the Ozarks. 

Much Worse than Blizzards

 Blizzards are rare in My Corner of the Ozarks. Sure, we have snow every winter. Maybe an inch or two. And I never thought we were in "tornado alley", but I'm beginning to wonder.  

April 2 was a rerun of March 14. We watched TV weather reports of tornadoes coming into Howell County AGAIN!!

According to the National Weather Service on March 4, 13 tornadoes, strong winds, and large hail hit communities across Arkansas, Missouiri, Illinois, and Indiana. There were seven deaths and twelve other injuries. Homes and businesses were scattered across the landscape. One of the hardest hit in My Corner of the Ozarks was the little town of Bakersfield where three lives were lost.

The storms came near West Plains in Howell County (in My Corner of the Ozarks) on March 14. Pictured above is damage to a business south of West Plains. (Photo from Howell County News.)

 The April 2 storm track was almost exactly the same. It went south of West Plains and remained southeast of Mountain View heading toward Poplar Bluff and Cape Girardeau. There was one death at Cape. 

In March the Missouri Governor requested FEMA damage assessments from Howell, Oregon, Ozark and Wright counties, as well as Bollinger, Butler, Camden, Carter, Franklin, Iron, Jefferson, Laclede, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Phelps, Pulaski, Reynolds, Ripley, St. Louis, Stoddard, Wayne and Webster counties according to the West Plains Daily Quill. 

According to Quill reporting the initial FEMA damage assements in March estimated about 368 houses destroyed across Missouri, plus 356 with major damage and 1,058 with minor damage. 

The Howell-Oregon Electric Coop reported more than 400 poles broken or on the ground and 6,300 customers without power. Cousin Lynda in West Plains was out of power for several days. 

These two 2025 storms remind me of the May 26, 2024 tornado that hit Mountain View. 

Mountain View Police Chief Jamie Perkins reported in the Howell County News, "I recorded three tornadoes that came through town. The biggest was the north of [US Highway] 60, went out Delp Road, towards Y Highway.”  Perkins said, and Howell County Sheriff Brent Campbell confirmed, there was only one report of a serious injury. One home “a block outside city limits” was blown off its foundation, seriously injuring the occupant. 

A brick home just north of Mountain View demolished by the tornado May 26, 2024. 

May 26, 2024

Looking north over Walmart, Mountain View (Howell County News photo)

Three times in less than 12 months... That is too many. I may have to start selling storm shelters.