Tracking storms Thursday night and a dry start to the weekend

TODAY: Thursday will be warmer than Wednesday, thanks to a lack of clouds that kept temperatures cool yesterday. Highs are expected near 80 amid sunshine and a south wind.

TONIGHT: Thursday is an ABC17 Stormtrack Weather Alert Day as severe storms are possible overnight into Friday morning. For the details, read our online ABC17 Stormtrack Weather Alert Day Blog. Our overall severe threat is low, but storms may pack a damaging wind threat as they arrive from the west around midnight.

EXTENDED: These storms will push south, leaving us drier on Friday, save for a few morning showers in the southeast. Additional rain chances are unlikely on Friday. Highs are forecast in the 70s under partly cloudy skies. Winds shift from the north for most of the day. Dry weather continues on Saturday under sunny skies. Winds from the northeast, becoming easterly, keep our highs in the 70s. Another surface low develops over the southern plains on Sunday. Some severe threats are expected across the Ark-La-Tex region to Kansas City, but it will struggle to reach central Missouri. If it does, we could see some carryover threat before the system pushes east, posing a threat to Illinois and the Missouri Bootheel region on Monday. We currently seem positioned to miss the greatest threat each day, but we may get some strong storms from either round. Sunday night into Monday morning appears to be the window of greatest impact from this system.