text: Chris Sisemore kept his eyes open as a rare but deadly winter tornado plucked him from his rural Arkansas home and flung him across the street. 
   
   Paige Sisemore, 18, of Lincoln, Ark., sits on the foundation of a home behind a makeshift cross made from debris after a tornado tore through the small town of Cincinnati, Ark., on Friday, Dec. 31, 2010.... (Associated Press) 
   
   Margie Sisemore, left, and Tammy Borden, right, clean up in the aftermath of a tornado that tore through the small town of Cincinnati, Ark., in western Washington County early in the morning on Friday,... (Associated Press) 
   
   A small piece of metal siding sits wrapped around a tree after a trailer shattered in heavy winds Friday, Dec. 31, 2010, near Rolla, Mo. Part of the trailer's frame was found about 50 feet away from its... (Associated Press) 
   
   Standing on a large debris pile, Naomi Shortell, left, looks through a pair of glasses just found by volunteers as she and her friend, Jennifer Hawkins, right, dig through what is left of Shortell's brother-in-law's... (Associated Press) 
   
   Jerald Welch waits for his insurance agent to call after severe winds tore the roof off of most of his house Friday, Dec. 31, 2010, near Rolla, Mo. Several homes and trailers in the neighborhood were... (Associated Press) 
   
   The St. Paul's Catholic Church's rectory, foreground, church and school lie damaged after severe weather in St. Louis, Mo. on Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. Rev. Mike Dieckmann and Rev. Jim Holbrook were in the... (Associated Press) 
   
   Debris from a house lies in a pile on Lindbergh Boulevard in Sunset Hills, Mo. on Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. Tornadoes fueled by unusually warm air struck the South and Midwest on Friday, killing at least... (Associated Press) 
   
   A St. Louis County police officer helps residents with their belongings as they evacuated their home on Lindbergh Boulevard in Sunset Hills, Mo. on Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. Tornadoes fueled by unusually... (Associated Press) 
   
   Jordan Brewer stacks canned goods onto an upturned deck as he and a friend help recover belongings from a trailer which was shattered in heavy winds Friday, Dec. 31, 2010, near Rolla, Mo. Brewer was assisting... (Associated Press) 
   
   Donovan Archer, left, tosses a toy guitar to Jordan Brewer, right, as they try to help friends and family of Jason Stevenson recover a few belongings after his trailer was shattered in heavy winds Friday,... (Associated Press) 
   
   Margie Sisemore cleans up in the after a tornado destroyed several homes in the small town of Cincinnati, Ark., in western Washington County early in the morning on Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. A tornado fueled... (Associated Press) 
   
   Harlin Gast walks past the debris in his neighborhood in Sunset Hills, Mo. on Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. Gast got a cut on his head in Friday's storm that destroyed his home and another belonging to his son.... (Associated Press) 
   
   Chris Sisemore, right, describes being thrown from his home by a tornado that tore through Cincinnati, Ark., early in the morning on Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. A tornado fueled by an unusually warm winter... (Associated Press) 
   
   A recreational vehicle leans against a house and a toppled shed sits in the foreground just off Highway E about two miles north of Interstate 44 Friday, Dec. 31, 2010, near Rolla, Mo. Tornadoes fueled... (Associated Press) 
   
   "I wanted to see the end coming. You're only going to see it one time and I thought that was it," he said, hours after surviving the twister. "It takes more than a tornado to get me." 
   
   At least six people were killed and dozens injured as tornadoes fueled by unusually warm air pummeled the South and Midwest on Friday and early Saturday. 
   
   Three people died in the northwestern Arkansas hamlet of Cincinnati when a tornado touched down just before sunrise Friday, and three others died when a storm spawned by the same weather system ripped up the Missouri countryside near Rolla. Early Saturday, two people were injured in central Mississippi and several homes were damaged by a storm in Attala County. Tornado watches were in effect for parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana on Saturday morning as the system continued moving east. 
   
   Sisemore, who lives in Cincinnati, had bumps and bruises but no serious injures. 
   
   "It sucked me out of my house and carried me across the road and dropped me," he said. "I was Superman for a while. ... You're just free-floating through the air. Trees are knocking you and smacking you down." 
   
   In south-central Missouri, 21-year-old Megan Ross and her 64-year-old grandmother Loretta Anderson died at a Lecoma farm where their family lived among three mobile homes and two frame houses, Dent County Emergency Management Coordinator Brad Nash said. The National Weather Service determined the home was hit by a weak tornado that was 50 yards wide and traveled less than a mile. 
   
   "We found debris from one of the trailers a mile away," Nash said. "One of the frames of the trailer was 15 feet up in a tree. All the frames were all twisted up," and refrigerator from one of the mobile homes was found 200 yards away, he said. 
   
   North of Rolla, not far from Lecoma, 69-year-old Alice Cox was killed when a tornado destroyed a home while the Belle, Mo., woman was visiting a friend, according to Phelps County Emergency Management Director Sandy North. 
   
   In Arkansas, Gerald Wilson, 88, and his wife, Mamie, 78, died in their home and Dick Murray, 78, died after being caught by the storm while milking cows, Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder said. 
   
   At Fort Leonard Wood, a tornado with winds of 136 to 165 mph demolished about a dozen homes and caused lesser damage to many more in a neighborhood that houses officers. 
   
   Spokesman Jeff S. Maddy said many from the fort were traveling for the holidays. 
   
   "The good thing here is if you had to have a storm like this, it couldn't happen at better time because we have the holiday season and so many people are visiting family and friends away from Fort Leonard Wood." 
   
   In Illinois, a tornado may have touched down in Petersburg, northwest of Springfield, where about two dozen homes were damaged _ some severely _ and a woman was injured when her car was struck by a falling tree branch. Her injuries weren't believed to be life-threatening. 
   
   The region has been bracing for severe weather for much of the week. Gulf moisture riding southerly winds pushed temperatures into the upper 60s and 70s on Thursday _ ahead of a cold front expected to drop temperatures into the teens by Saturday morning. 
   
   "This storm system has been showing significant signs that it could develop," said Chris Buonanno, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. 
   
   "In the winter you don't always have the instability" that would allow tornadoes to develop, Buonanno said. "This time, we have the instability." 
   
   While the spring brings most of the region's tornadoes, violent weather at this time of year isn't unheard of. A February 2008 outbreak killed 31 in Tennessee and 14 in Arkansas, and in January 1999 two separate outbreaks across the South killed 18, including seven in Arkansas. 
   
   A year ago, there were no tornado deaths nationwide between Oct. 9, 2009, and March 10, 2010. 
   
   Buonanno said there appears to be some association between changes in South Pacific Ocean temperatures and changes in the flow of the jet stream in the central part of the United States, causing an uptick in violent weather. 
   
   Friday's tornado fatalities were the first in the nation since Sept. 16, when a woman hit a falling tree while driving in Queens, N.Y., and a man was killed in his home at Belleville, W.Va. The deaths push this year's count to 42 nationally, and to 5 in Arkansas. The deaths in Missouri were its first of the year. 
   
   ___ 
   
   Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth and Margaret Stafford in Kansas City, Mo., Sophia Tareen in Chicago and Kelly P. Kissel in Little Rock; and AP photo stringer April Brown in Cincinnati, Ark., contributed to this report. ||||| Shaken residents spent New Year's Day sifting through the wreckage wrought by tornadoes that touched down in several states in the final hours of 2010, killing seven people in two states and injuring dozens of others. 
   
   Six of the victims — three in Missouri and three in Arkansas — died Friday as tornadoes fueled by unusually warm air pummeled the South and Midwest. A seventh victim who was injured Friday near the south-central Missouri town of Rolla died Saturday at a hospital in Columbia, said Bruce Southard, the chief of the Rolla Rural Fire Department. 
   
   The woman, whose name wasn't immediately released, was entertaining a friend, Alice Cox, 69, of Belle, Mo., in her trailer when the twister hit. 
   
   Southard said nothing was left of the trailer except for the frame and that the twister scattered debris 40 to 50 yards from where the trailer had sat. The woman were found under a pile of debris, Southard said. 
   
   "It's like you set a bomb off in it," Southard said in a phone interview. "It just annihilated it." 
   
   At a farm nearby, 21-year-old Megan Ross and her 64-year-old grandmother Loretta Anderson died when a tornado hit where their family lived among three mobile homes and two frame houses, Dent County Emergency Management Coordinator Brad Nash said. 
   
   The National Weather Service determined the home was hit by a weak tornado that was 50 yards wide and traveled less than a mile. 
   
   In the northwestern Arkansas hamlet of Cincinnati, Gerald Wilson, 88, and his wife, Mamie, 78, died in their home and Dick Murray, 78, died after being caught by the storm while milking cows, Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder said. 
   
   Gov. Jay Nixon was spending New Year's Day touring damage from the storm that also caused damage in near St. Louis. 
   
   Nixon started the tours around 11 a.m. in the St. Louis County town of Sunset Hills, where violent storms hit after noon Friday and left a trail of debris. Nixon was headed to Rolla later in the day. 
   
   Parts of Alabama and Florida were on tornado watch for much of Saturday and the same storm system triggered flash flooding in parts of Alabama. 
   
   "Several roads in and around Harstelle are becoming impassable due to rising water," the National Weather Service reported, adding that Albertville and Guntersville also saw road closures. 
   
   Overnight, two people were injured in central Mississippi and several homes were damaged by a storm in Attala County. 
   
   In Cincinnati, the tornado plucked Chris Sisemore from his rural home and flung him across the street. Sisemore had bumps and bruises but no serious injures. 
   
   "It sucked me out of my house and carried me across the road and dropped me," he said. "I was Superman for a while. ... You're just free-floating through the air. Trees are knocking you and smacking you down." 
   
   Sisemore added that he kept his eyes open the entire time. "I wanted to see the end coming. You're only going to see it one time and I thought that was it," he said. "It takes more than a tornado to get me." 
   
   Sisemore's mother, Margie Sisemore, said her son thought a tree had come crashing through his window. 
   
   "He jumped under his bed, said it grabbed his legs — took him up through the ceiling and he landed over yonder," she said, gesturing across the street. 
   
   At Fort Leonard Wood, a tornado with winds of 136 to 165 mph demolished about a dozen homes and caused lesser damage to many more in a neighborhood that houses military officers. 
   
   Spokesman Jeff Maddy said many from the army base were traveling for the holidays. 
   
   "The good thing here is if you had to have a storm like this, it couldn't happen at better time because we have the holiday season and so many people are visiting family and friends away from Fort Leonard Wood." 
   
   In Illinois, a tornado may have touched down in Petersburg, northwest of Springfield, where about two dozen homes were damaged — some severely — and a woman was injured when her car was struck by a falling tree branch. Her injuries weren't believed to be life-threatening. 
   
   In southern Missouri, storms damaged buildings and boat docks around Table Rock Lake, leaving several boats adrift after wrenching them from their moorings. Several homes and businesses were damaged in the St. Louis County town of Sunset Hills, and a church was damaged in nearby Fenton. 
   
   The region has been bracing for severe weather for much of the week. Gulf moisture riding southerly winds pushed temperatures into the upper 60s and 70s Fahrenheit on Thursday — ahead of a cold front expected to drop temperatures into the teens by Saturday morning.
target: – A rare outbreak of winter tornadoes has killed at least seven people in Missouri and Arkansas and left a trail of destruction across the South and Midwest. Three people were killed by a tornado in a small town in northern Arkansas and a tornado spawned by the same weather system killed four more in Missouri. Tornado watches are in effect for parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana as the system moves east. Making matters worse, the storm system has caused flash flooding in parts of Alabama, MSNBC reports One Arkansas man survived with only bumps and bruises after a tornado plucked him from his home. "It sucked me out of my house and carried me across the road and dropped me," he told AP. "I was Superman for a while. You're just free-floating through the air. Trees are knocking you and smacking you down." Meteorologists believe the violent winter weather is linked to changes in Pacific Ocean temperatures, which have affected the jet stream across the central US.