Storms between tomorrow and Saturday will bring severe weather to the Midwest, but not much of the strong stuff is expected to hit Missouri.
The National Weather Service office in Pleasant Hill created this graphic outlining the risk for severe weather later this week.
National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Bailey says the chances of severe weather in Missouri are only slight.
“This going to be a pretty potent severe weather system, just maybe not so much for Missouri,” Bailey tells Missourinet. “At this point, the bulk of the severe weather should occur to our north up in Iowa. They’re even expecting some fall tornadoes up there. For us down here in Missouri we’re more probably going to see hail and maybe some damaging straight-line winds from these storms. Certainly the far Northwest corner of Missouri does stand the best chance of seeing the most severe weather with this event, at least that’s the way it appears now, for Friday evening.”
Bailey says the storm is still far enough away, having not yet made landfall on the West Coast, that the timing and track could change significantly. Severe weather could prove to be less of a Friday evening event and instead occur into Friday overnight and Saturday morning.
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor information, updated last Tuesday and posted last Thursday.
He also says it won’t do much to alleviate the drought, which, in Missouri, is the most severe in the northern half of the state.
“The problem is, as I look at the forecast for seven-day rainfall totals, over about the northwest half of the state we’re still looking at less than three-quarters of an inch over the next week,” Bailey says. “So, this is certainly not a drought buster but at least it will help keep the drought from getting worse.”
Bailey says Missouri should see a quarter-of-an-inch to a half-inch of rain in storms beginning tomorrow.
He adds that despite the federal shutdown, the job of the Weather Service will not be impacted, including the tracking and reporting of severe weather.
This message appears when one attempts to access the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s main website, NOAA.gov.
“We’re going to continue to provide all services directly related to our mission of protecting life and property. All the warnings and forecasts we always issue will continue. We’re going to be here 24-7 despite the shutdown.”
Bailey says no meteorologists have been furloughed due to the shutdown.
Some weather-related government websites have been deactivated, but those considered important to protecting lives and property remain up, including regional Weather Service office websites, are up and running.
