Tracking a few showers Thursday, heavier rain this weekend

TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy and cool with lows in the upper 40s.

TOMORROW: A weak front brings a chance for a few showers, with isolated thunderstorms along I-44 and south by afternoon. Highs in the low 60s. It's breezy with northwest winds gusting up to 25 mph.

EXTENDED: Friday is looking clear, dry, and pleasant with highs near 70. We're keeping a close eye on an area of low pressure that will move out of the Rockies on Friday, lifting a warm front across southern Missouri. There is still some variability on how far north this boundary gets. The farther south it stays, the cooler we will be for the weekend. In turn, that would eliminate a severe weather threat for our area. If it lifts farther north, we can expect to be a little warmer. Rain chances look promising on both days, especially Saturday night into Sunday with a possible complex of storms riding along that boundary across southern MO. Right now, the better environment for severe weather will stay to our west and southwest, but a few of those storms may impact our southern counties near the Lake and I-44 very late Saturday night with gusty winds and heavy rain being the main problem. It's too early to make a call on a specific area due to the uncertainty on the frontal position, though. The Storm Prediction Center is highlighting a potential risk area across far western Missouri into eastern Kansas for Saturday. Regardless, rain amounts will likely end up between 1-2" from Friday night through Sunday night for much of Mid-Missouri. High temperatures on Saturday and Sunday will be in the low 60s. An active pattern sticks around next week with showers and storms the most likely between Tuesday night and Wednesday. Temperatures will be about 10 degrees cooler than average for at least the first half of next week with a Canadian high pressure system just to our north.