Severe Weather Update

Hey, folks. A quick update on the severe weather south and east of St. Louis.

Tornado warnings are still in effect for the Missouri counties of Iron and Madison until 1:30 AM and Perry, Bollinger and heading into Cape Girardeau county until 1:45 AM. In Illinois, tornado warnings are in effect for Franklin, Perry and Washington counties for another 5 minutes. Also, tornado warnings for Hamilton, Wayne and White counties until 1:30 AM.

The strongest portion of the squall line, in terms of rotation, is in western Perry and eastern Madison counties in Missouri. You're looking at storm relative velocities, or winds inside the thunderstorms. Green colors are winds blowing towards the radar in Weldon Spring in St. Charles county near St. Louis and the reds are winds blowing away from the radar. There are strong indications of rotation to the east of Fredericktown and near Higdon, Cornwall, Hahns Mill and another one near Corners in western Perry county.

The storms will continue to move east into the overnight hours and as long as the atmosphere ahead of this intense line of thunderstorms is unstable and dynamic enough to support these storms, we could see tornado warnings continue throughout the overnight hours and into Monday morning. If you are reading this and you're under a tornado watch, have a plan of action in place in case you go under a tornado warning. Remember, go to the basement. If you don't have a basement, go to the lowest floor in your home or business and get in the center of the house or business with no outside walls or windows around. For a home, that'll likely be a bathroom or a closet.

Unfortunately, I need to start getting ready for bed since I have work in the morning. Once all the damage has been assessed, I will be able to write a post or make a video post about the storms and the damage they've caused. Hang in there, folks in Missouri and Illinois. The threat of storms will be out of here as you head to work in the morning. Have a good and safe night.