Damaging winds, hail, tornadoes & flooding may be headed to the metro-east. What to expect
Updated at 12:25 p.m. with information from a St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency severe weather update.
Several waves of thunderstorms are in the forecast for the metro-east and wider St. Louis metro area Wednesday, from late morning into the early evening, according to the National Weather Service’s St. Louis office.
“We are expecting strong to severe storms. A few of the storms could produce extremely large hail greater than two inches, damaging winds in excess of 70 miles per hour and possibly a few strong tornadoes,” Meteorologist Melissa Byrd said.
Thunderstorms are estimated to form in the metro-east between 1 and 4 p.m., she said. The threat for severe storms will end at about 7 or 8 p.m.
A flood watch is in effect for Monroe, Randolph and St. Clair counties from 10 a.m. through the evening. Some storms may pass the same locations, leading to flash flooding.
“We are definitely in the risk of receiving some significant severe weather,” said Bryan Whitaker, assistant director of the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency, during a severe weather update on the agency’s Facebook page. He said the storms could be arriving in the county as early as 12:30 p.m.
“It’s not going to be nonstop. It’s going to come in waves,” Whitaker added. “From about now until 8 o’clock tonight, we need to be weather aware. We need to know what our safe place is. We need to know what our plans are, because you need to be able to react to that quickly.”
Byrd advised staying alert to the changing weather conditions and having a way to receive warnings, whether that be by phone, TV or radio.
Whitaker and Herb Simmons, director of the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency, advised residents to sign up for CodeRED emergency alerts at www.alertstclair.com.
Simmons said he talked with Ameren this morning, and they are deploying more crews into Fairview Heights and Belleville, which may be hard hit.
The potentially damaging storms expected Wednesday are the latest in a spate of severe weather this spring, including a storm April 18 during which eight “weak” tornadoes developed in southwestern Illinois.
This story was originally published May 8, 2024 at 10:58 AM.
