Tracking heavy rain and storms overnight into Wednesday morning

TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with showers and storms likely well after midnight. Some storms may be strong with gusty winds and heavy rain. Lows near 60.

TOMORROW: Showers and storms early, with heavy rain and strong winds. Temperatures drop from the low 60s into the low 50s by late afternoon.

EXTENDED: Rain and storms move in late tonight through tomorrow morning ahead of a cold front. The arrival time in our western counties will be between midnight and 1:00 a.m,, with an eastward progression through the overnight hours. The severe weather threat will wane throughout the night with a lack of instability, but there could be a few strong wind gusts between 40-50 mph and of course heavy rain as the line plows through Mid-MO through mid-afternoon. We'll keep a close eye on areas east of Highway 63 through about 2:00 p.m, for isolated strong wind gusts and/or a quick spin-up tornado, but the higher threat for severe weather will be to our east and southeast tomorrow. We'll end up with about 1-1.5" of rain with this round. A few showers could linger behind the front into Wednesday night, and a couple light snow showers are even possible early Thursday morning across northern Missouri near low pressure. Thursday is chilly in the wake of this system with highs in the mid-40s. We return to near average on Friday as winds shift back south, but late Friday night into Saturday another disturbance will bring showers into early Saturday. Weekend temperatures will be right around 60 to the low 60s both days. Next week looks active with a chance of rain late Monday into Tuesday, and highs in the low to mid-60s.