Warm start to fall, cooler weather on the way

The autumnal equinox occurs at 9:21 AM Thursday, marking the beginning of the fall season. However, temperatures will feel more like July as they soar into the upper 80s through Saturday. The jet stream is staying far to our north, steering waves of low pressure and storms into the Northern Plains. This is also keeping us in a warm air mass with light southerly winds and abundant sunshine.

Changes occur this weekend as a developing storm system slowly moves toward us from the west. Showers and t-storms out ahead of this system will move into western Missouri Saturday night, gradually shifting east and into Mid-Missouri Sunday morning, increasing through the afternoon. Forecast models indicate that the upper level low pressure system will cut-off from the main wind flow, causing it to slow down and possibly stall, giving us periods of rain through Monday with rainfall amounts as high as 4 inches in western Missouri. There is still some uncertainty on the position of the upper level low and speed so please check back for updates.

Cooler air will move in with this storm system and it will feel much more like fall early next week as days stay in the 60s to low 70s and nights drop to near.