Shifting winds brought extreme heat back to much of the area Tuesday. Afternoon highs jumped 10° in Springfield over Monday’s highs. The heat will continue into Wednesday for some, with waves of storms impacting portions of the Ozarks as well.
The first wave of storms will take shape over Eastern Kansas late Tuesday evening, spreading across Central Missouri through sunrise Wednesday. Heavy rain, lightning, and strong winds will be possible from Kansas City southeast into Southeast Missouri. The wave of storms will likely push a broken band of showers and gusty winds south toward Hwy. 60 as well.
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The morning wave of storms will play a role in where storms are most likely to occur later in the afternoon. A boundary generated by the storms will push south to the state line before peeling off to the east later in the afternoon. Meanwhile, a cool front will also be dropping in from the north.
Hot air will wedge back in across Southwest Missouri and Northern Arkansas. This will result in highs back in the 90s and low 100s there, and a Heat Advisory has been posted.
The leftover boundaries will serve as a focus for isolated to widely scattered storms late in the afternoon. The risk area should be focused east of Hwy. 65, especially closer to and east of Hwy. 63. Wind energy aloft will help organize storms, and winds near the boundary could lead to a few rotating storms. Strong winds and hail will be possible, along with a low risk of an isolated tornado.
That round of storms will be rather isolated and should shift off to the southeast rather quickly. Additional storms will develop later in the evening over Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas as the cool front drops south. A few of these storms could also become severe with a risk of strong winds and hail.
By morning, the rain should be on the way out. Morning clouds will blanket portions of the area, thinning out as we head into the afternoon. Temperatures will run cooler Thursday, with quite a bit of the area remaining below 90° for highs.
We’ll close out the week with sunshine and temperatures creeping higher. The overall pattern through the weekend will feature low-level winds out of the east to southeast. This will tend to hold off the sizzling summer temperatures that could come in on southwest winds. But temperatures will still be hot, with morning lows in the upper 60s and highs in the low 90s.
The pattern is a little tough to pin down because there is a signal for pockets of clouds and showers, and thunderstorms, to impact the region as they spill over the top of the summer ridge centered to our west. So, rain can’t be ruled out any day from Saturday into early next week. Clouds and wet weather could also play a role in keeping temperatures cooler for portions of the area as well on any one of those days…