Tracking storms tonight into Thursday, heat for the weekend

TONIGHT: Increasing clouds with storms moving in late. Some storms could produce heavy rain. Lows in the lower 70s.

TOMORROW: Storms early, with more development south of I-70 by late afternoon. Highs in the lower to mid-80s.

EXTENDED: I'm tracking a thin line of storms that is stretching across central Illinois and has entered into northeast Missouri, and we may see some isolated development along that through this evening. The main concern would be heavy downpours and gusty winds. Most of the area stays dry tonight, at least until after midnight as a complex of scattered storms moves in ahead of a cold front to the north. That likely enters Mid-Missouri around 2-4:00 a.m., bringing the potential of some heavy rain particularly along and north of Highway 24. This is where we could run into some flooding issues through the morning with slow moving storms and high moisture content. Storms will begin to dissipate through late morning into early afternoon as the front stalls out across the region. We could see some afternoon/evening redevelopment across the southern half of the area, with flooding being the main concern with those storms. Both tonight and tomorrow parts of Mid-Missouri are in a level 1/5 severe risk for isolated damaging wind gusts and heavy rain. On Friday, that stalled front will be key to our temperature forecast and rain chances. Areas south of the front will be hotter and more humid with highs approaching 90, while points north will be cooler with more clouds and highs in the 80s. Scattered storms are possible as this slowly inches north. Over the weekend, heat builds with that front north of us, with highs in the 90s and heat index values approaching 105. The dangerous heat looks to stretch into most of next week, with a Weather Alert Day going into effect from Saturday through next Friday.