Tracking gusty winds this afternoon, storm chances by tomorrow night

THIS AFTERNOON: Partly to mostly sunny and breezy with highs in the mid-70s.

TONIGHT: Partly cloudy to mostly clear with lows in the lower to mid-50s. A few spotty showers north of Highway 36.

EXTENDED: There will continue to be an elevated fire risk across the southern half of Mid-Missouri this afternoon as relative humidity will hover around 30% along with wind gusts exceeding 30 mph. Thursday is looking warm, but less breezy as highs reach the mid-upper 70s. A slow moving front could trigger showers and storms by Thursday night, especially north of Highway 24. A few of those storms could contain small hail through the overnight hours. The front slowly slides south during the day on Friday, bringing rain and storms through much of the afternoon. With the front to the south on Friday night, we can expect clouds to linger into Saturday, leading to a dry start to the weekend. The front looks to lift back north on Saturday, potentially triggering a few showers and storms by late afternoon. We will likely see more rain between late Saturday night and Sunday morning as low level winds begin to pick up overnight, increasing rain coverage. Another warm front moves across the area early on Monday, bringing temperatures back to near 80 degrees. This will set the stage for a strong system to move out of the Plains, bringing the threat of severe weather to the region between Sunday and Monday. A Weather Alert Day will likely be issued within the next 24 hours as we continue to pin down the timeline and time frame of risk over our immediate area. The Storm Prediction Center has parts of Mid-Missouri in a level 2/5 risk between both days. Rain amounts will range from 1-2" between Thursday night and Tuesday night.