Tracking a wet midweek ahead of a picturesque weekend

TODAY: Tuesday will start wet with scattered thunderstorms. We remain in an ABC17 Stormtrack Weather Alert day as we may have a strong storm or two, but our overall severe threat appears low. Our severe threat should completely come to an end after a cold front that is driving storms, passes out of the region around 9 a.m. near I-44. This will be sooner for many, like Columbia, where the severe threat will be over by 7 a.m. If we see severe weather, it will be isolated instances of hail and wind. We Expect a drier rest of the day, but some showers may work there way in from the southwest along the backside of the front around late morning and early afternoon. Temperatures will remain in the 60s through the day.

TONIGHT: Temperatures remain fairly steady overnight, in the 50s. This is as a warm front lifts north into Wednesday morning, bringing clouds and showers.

EXTENDED: The warm front lifts, takes our highs into the 70s by the afternoon Wednesday, but also increases instability in the atmosphere. Right now, it looks like we'll have ingredients for isolated strong to severe storms amongst more scattered precipitation. Wednesday afternoon and evening, the best environment for severe storms gets close, but generally stays south of I-44. We'll continue to watch for a shift in this pattern, but for now the severe threat looks low in mid-Missouri. Some showers and rumbles of thunder return in a scattered manner on Thursday, as we watch this wet pattern finally shift east. This leaves us sunny and mild, with highs in the low-to-mid 70s over the weekend. Some may stand to pick up another inch of rain through this by the weekend.