Weather Alert Day: Damaging winds, hail, and heavy rain possible

The ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather team has issued a Weather Alert Day for the potential of a few strong to severe storms for areas north of I-70 tonight.

THURSDAY EVENING UPDATE: Isolated strong storms have produced nickel to quarter sized hail along with heavy rain over Randolph and Monroe counties, where 2-3" of rain has fallen. Severe storms have developed in southeast Nebraska, eventually developing into a line that will move into Mid-Missouri late tonight. The main threats will be damaging winds between 60-70 mph and heavy rain between 1-3" by daybreak.

SETUP:

A slow-moving cold front has been pushing through the hot and humid airmass overhead and is currently stalled across central Missouri. The front will act as a trigger for storms after sundown tonight.

TIMELINE:

Storms will initiate mainly north of our area within the first few hours of sundown and then dip southward into Mid-MO. Severe potential drops off early Friday morning though storms will continue moving through during the commute.

IMPACTS:

Enough instability and wind shear will be present in the lower and mid-levels of the atmosphere for storms to become severe Thursday evening along and north of a stalled cold front. Quarter size hail, 50-60 mph winds, and a short-lived tornado are all possible between about 10:00 p.m. and early Friday morning for the northern portion of the area. The Storm Prediction Center has most of the region in a level 2 out of 5 severe risk, meaning scattered severe storms are possible.

PREPARE:

Make sure you have the free ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather App downloaded to up to the minute warnings and keep an eye on the radar. You can set it to your location and to get notified of alerts in your area.