Tracking scattered storms tonight, cold and windy start to Saturday
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy and windy with lows in the lower 30s as storms exit east. Wind chills fall into the low 20s by morning.
TOMORROW: Mostly sunny and breezy with early wind gusts between 20-30 mph. Highs in the mid-40s.
EXTENDED: We're in for an interesting 24 hours with the threat of severe storms for parts of our area this evening followed by a windy and cold Saturday, only to be met with near record breaking high temps again next week. Hard to believe it's mid-December! We'll break this down and start out with the Weather Alert Day details as that's the most pressing issue at hand. The Weather Alert Day will continue through the 10:00 p.m. with the threat diminishing to the east. Areas along and east of Highway 63 will be the locations to watch for severe weather. All modes will be possible; a few tornado warnings, hail between quarter and golf ball size, and 60-70 mph straight line winds are all on the table. The threat for widespread and more significant severe weather increases across southeast Missouri and southern Illinois into Kentucky overnight. Those locations south of St. Louis are already under a Tornado Watch until 11:00 p.m.
Behind this cold front, winds will be strong out of the northwest and cold, bringing temperatures down into the low 30s by Saturday morning. Clouds clear out during the day, leaving us with more sunshine and highs in the mid-upper 40s. We bounce right back into the mid-50s on Sunday as winds shift back south thanks to upper level high pressure shoving the jet stream to our north. Next week looks quite mild with highs near 60 again by Monday, and reaching the low 70s by Wednesday before another front moves in and brings a chance for showers between Wednesday and Thursday. That system cools us back into the 40s and 50s for the end of the week.
Record highs will be in jeopardy on Tuesday (forecast: 67, record: 70), and more likely on Wednesday (forecast: 73, record: 70).
