Metro-east at enhanced risk for severe weather Tuesday night and Wednesday
Wednesday could bring strong thunderstorms with damaging winds being the highest concern, but hail and tornadoes are still on the table.
There’s expected to be scattered damaging wind with wind gusts up to 70 mph, according to a report from the National Weather Service.
If there’s any hail or tornadoes, which are at a lower expected risk, then they’re expected to be weak, with tornadoes in the EF-0 range and the hail being quarter-sized.
The report said they’re expecting two rounds of thunderstorms late Tuesday night and all through Wednesday.
Matt Beitscher, lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service in St. Louis, said on Tuesday that there’s some uncertainty as to where the storm will develop.
“It could develop across southeast Missouri, near Chester, Illinois, or it could develop as far north as the St. Louis metro area,” Beitscher said. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out today.”
Beitscher said if the weather dissipates in the middle of Missouri, it could bring storms to the metro-east. But, if it keeps raining throughout the state, it could use up all its energy before it gets to the metro-east.
“All that hinges on what happens tonight,” Beitscher said.
Beitscher said people need to keep up to date with the weather using authoritative sources and have multiple ways to receive weather alerts.
