Things Are Getting Interesting...

Good afternoon, everyone. Things are already getting pretty active in south central Kansas and with good reason.

The risk of severe thunderstorms still exists for most of Missouri, eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, all of Arkansas, northwestern Mississippi, western Tennessee, the western two-thirds of Kentucky, southwestern Ohio, southern Indiana and southern Illinois. The elevated risk for severe storms has shrunken in terms of area coverage compared to yesterday. The elevated risk should have folks in extreme southern Illinois, extreme southwestern Indiana just southwest of Evansville, western Kentucky, northwestern Tennessee including Memphis, southeastern Missouri from West Plains and Poplar Bluff to the Boot-Heel and into northeastern Arkansas including Little Rock.

As of this post, there are two areas that bear watching heading into the evening.

The counties within the light blue outline are under a severe thunderstorm watch until 9:00 PM Central Standard Time. We've had warnings out for the cell just south of Kansas City due to winds in excess of 60 and occasionally 70 mph winds and large hail when it was back around Wichita and El Dorado. That continues to move northeast towards Sedalia, Marshall and just northwest of Columbia in Missouri but more storms are already developing in south central Kansas around Medicine Lodge. In other words, folks in the watch area have only seen round one and there's still a long way to go before you're out of the woods.

Another area that needs watch is the counties outlined in red. For them, a tornado watch is in effect until 9:00 PM Central Standard Time. No warnings for this area yet, but storms are already firing up along the Kansas-Oklahoma border. Right now, the storms appear to be firing up as individual cells. This is a little concerning since the area has more instability and better atmospheric dynamics to develop supercell thunderstorms that can contain strong updrafts that can lead to large hail, strong winds and some tornadoes. Areas around Joplin, Pittsburg, Neodesha and heading west towards Medicine Lodge and as far south as a line from Tulsa to Vance AFB in Oklahoma need to keep an eye to the sky for the next several hours.

More storms will pop up and spread eastward into Missouri heading into tonight. Looks like Columbia will get hit by these storm between 7 and 9 PM while St. Louis will be getting in on the action around 10 PM tonight. Yesterday, I did talk about how Fort Smith might get in on some of the action but the latest model runs (knock on wood) has any possible thunderstorms existing in a scattered nature and they have the worst of the weather just off to your east heading toward Little Rock.

Believe me, folks. I'd rather be tracking these storms for the rest of the day, be out at a television station keeping an eye on you all or out chasing the storms with the Mizzou Storm Chase Team but duty calls at the grocery store I still work for at 5 PM. I'll try to post another update before I lay head to pillow tonight. For now though, keep an eye to the sky, pay attention to any watches and warnings issued for your area, have a plan of action in case a warning is issued for your area and enjoy the skies if you're not in any serious danger. The T.V. stations and your friends would love to see some pictures if you're close to any of these storms and if you're not in any serious danger. Have a good evening, folks!