Strong tornadoes, wind and large hail threats in metro-east forecast. See timing
The metro-east, greater St. Louis region and most of Illinois are under a “moderate risk” of severe weather Monday, and several hazards are possible.
The National Weather Service St. Louis office upgraded the severe weather outlook from “enhanced” to “moderate” around 10 a.m. Monday, bringing the risk level from a 3 out of 5 to a 4 out of 5.
“While some storms are ongoing this morning north of I-70, much of our area has cleared out, leading to a higher threat potential later this afternoon,” the forecast reads.
The NWS reports the threat of “multiple strong to intense tornadoes” is likely areawide Monday afternoon and evening. St. Clair, Madison, Monroe and nearby counties had been under a severe thunderstorm watch Monday morning, which expired at 10 a.m.
In addition to the severe thunderstorm watches, the NWS St. Louis office has released a tornado warning and severe thunderstorm warnings in areas northwest of the region, including the cities of Louisiana, Missouri and Barry, Illinois.
“We do have a line of severe thunderstorms moving into Northeast Missouri, and we did have a tornado warning out across a couple of counties in Northeast Missouri in association with this line,” Mark Fuchs, senior service hydrologist with the St. Louis office, told the News-Democrat Monday morning.
Local meteorologists have reported large hail and winds up to 65 miles per hour within the line of severe thunderstorms.
Forecasters expect the thunderstorms may lessen a bit into the late morning or early afternoon before daytime heating destabilizes the lower atmosphere and additional severe thunderstorms develop. The greatest risk period for most of the metro-east is between 3 to 7 p.m. Monday.
“Not your run-of-the-mill severe weather event by any means,” Fuchs said.
EF2 intensity tornadoes and stronger are possible, Fuchs said, along with straight-line winds and large hail.
Monday’s risk for strong tornadoes comes as swaths of North St. Louis have yet to recover from May’s deadly EF3 tornado.
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This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 10:17 AM.
