Tracking rain and thunder overnight, change to snow and dangerous cold tomorrow

TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with rain and a few thunderstorms late. Temperatures holding steady in the upper 30s.

TOMORROW: Rain changes to snow from west to east by mid-late morning. Total snow accumulation around 1-2". Strong winds will gust up to 45 mph as temperatures fall throughout the day into the low 20s.

EXTENDED: We are tracking a messy system that will start impacting the region tonight, with snow and ice north of Highway 36, and rain and a few thunderstorms in Mid-Missouri after 10:00 p.m. Rain is expected to continue into Friday morning with a few rumbles of thunder possible. As cold air wraps around low pressure, temperatures rapidly drop, changing rain to snow from west to east by mid-morning. We can expect a mix to snow by late morning in Columbia and Jefferson City. Snow amounts will be on the lower end, right around an inch or perhaps slightly more in our northern counties. The big concern for Friday afternoon will be flash freezing in areas that have not dried from overnight and morning rain. We'll also have strong 40-45 mph wind gusts that could blow snow around and reduce visibility through the evening. Isolated power outages are possible into the evening. Saturday could bring a few flurries, but the attention will turn to dangerous cold as we'll be down into the single digits for morning temperatures with wind chills about 10 degrees below zero. Sunday will be even colder with morning temperatures about 5 degrees below zero with wind chills about -20 in the morning. We could see a quick shot of snow south of I-70 by afternoon and evening, but less than an inch of accumulation is expected. Wind chills on Monday morning drop to about -20 to -23. We'll see clouds and a few flurries on Monday, with more sunshine Tuesday and Wednesday. Highs only make the low teens on Tuesday with one more bitterly cold night dropping to the low single digits.