Severe weather possible today

Portions of southeast Missouri, including the Parkland, have a chance of some severe weather later today, according to the National Weather Service.

NWS issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook on Wednesday for St. Francois and its surrounding counties, as well as central Missouri, west central and southwest Illinois, for Wednesday evening into Thursday night.

While there were no watches or warnings issued as of press time, NWS was calling for the possibility of severe thunderstorms Wednesday evening, along with a strong chance for large hail and damaging winds in excess of 60 mph.

As for today’s outlook, expect scattered storms to develop in south central Missouri and north central Arkansas during the late morning to early afternoon hours. According to NWS, these storms are expected to move toward the Mississippi River by the early afternoon hours. That’s when conditions will become favorable for severe storms with very large hail, high winds, and isolated tornadoes across southeast Missouri.

As of now, it appears the greatest threat for tornadoes will be from the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and south and east from that point. The good news is that the stormy weather should be out of the region by early this evening.

Keep up with the latest NWS weather watches and warnings at www.dailyjournalonline.com.

Jenkins

Kevin Jenkins is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-518-3614 or kjenkins@dailyjournalonline.com