Tracking a sunny and warm week
TODAY: Monday is a sunny and warm day. We'll have sunshine and southwest winds contribute to a high likely in the 70s areawide. Winds will be sustained from the southwest at 10-20 mph, and may gust as high as 30 mph. With low relative humidity and dry fuels, this will create a fire risk. A red flag warning is in effect for some western counties from noon to 8 p.m.
TONIGHT: Skies tonight remain clear, and winds from the southwest.
EXTENDED: That is until right around daybreak. At sunrise, a cold front will be working through the region. This will have little impact other than some variable winds early in the day, before they settle from the north north of I-70, and from the southwest south of I-70. This will keep some a hair cooler, in the 60s near Moberly and Macon, but if you're not paying attention to the flags, you won't notice much difference between Monday and Tuesday. Both are going to be beautiful spring-like days. We'll have another couple of days in the 70s likely Wednesday and Thursday, as the warm trend continues for us through the rest of the work week. This will feed right into our next area of low pressure that takes aim at the region for Friday. This will be another one of those anomalously strong pressure gradients, that will create for wind conditions on Friday morning into the afternoon. The bigger impact looks to be a chance for severe storms somewhere in the mid-Mississippi valley. From mid-Missouri, to Iowa, central Illinois, down to Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and west Tennessee, there is a broad window for the possibility of severe storms as this dynamic area of low pressure turns up the dial on shear, and potentially brings areas of storm energy by Friday afternoon. This could result in a threat for all types of severe weather locally, but we're still watching to see if more small scale factors can come in line. Keep an eye on the forecast for Friday, and as always, know what you'll do in the case of severe weather Friday night.
