ST. LOUIS – A strong storm system is bringing scattered showers and storms to the St. Louis region Wednesday morning and is expected to bring strong to severe storms Wednesday afternoon and evening.
While the threat for the strongest storms has shifted a bit south and east, storms are still likely Wednesday afternoon across the Bi-State. Ahead of those afternoon storms, we will warm up quickly through the morning and see winds of 20-25 mph with gusts as high as 40 mph.
Prime time for storms is Wednesday from noon to 7 p.m. Storms will develop and push east, gathering intensity as they go. In metro St. Louis, be ready for storms between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Farther south in Missouri and east into Illinois, the strongest storms of the day look to impact you into the evening. This includes parts of Reynolds, Iron, Madison, and Perry Counties in MO and Randolph, Perry, and Jefferson Counties in IL. Basically, along and south of a line from Ellington, MO, to Mount Vernon, IL. These storms could bring up to baseball-sized hail, damaging wind gusts, and possible tornadoes.
Storms move out entirely after 10 p.m. The concern then shifts to rounds of heavy rain expected Thursday through Saturday. Watching some soaking rain Thursday afternoon and evening and then the heaviest rain Friday evening and all day Saturday.
The threat of river flooding is becoming more likely as more than 5 inches of rain will be possible south and southeast of metro St. Louis.