The National Weather Service says there is still a threat of severe weather both this morning and this afternoon, as southern Illinois will see a warm front move through, followed by a cold front a few hours later.
NWS Meteorologist David Humphrey says storms may develop by mid-day today... after the warm front moves out and as the cold front moves in:
"There's a moderate risk for severe attached with the cold front, which would include the risk of large hail, damaging winds, and tornados."
But Humphrey says the difficult part of this system is that it will likely be developing right over this region... which makes it hard to predict just what will happen:
"The probability of storms actually occurring is not necessarily absolute. It's just that if they occur, they have a good chance to be severe."
Humphrey says the warm front should be out of our region by later this morning, and the cold front should arrive sometime around mid-day.
Yesterday (Thursday), forecasters were concerned about overnight hours as well as Friday's unstable conditions. Meteorologist Beverley Poole with the National Weather Service in Paducah says the storms could develop quickly, and could potentially spawn tornadoes. She said yesterday another wave of severe weather is possible Friday afternoon when a rapid moving cold front is expected to pass through southern Illinois during the peak heating hours of the afternoon and early evening. Poole says that will create un-stable conditions that could spawn more severe weather between Noon and 3:00 pm on Friday.
Poole suggests keeping abreast of the forecast during the days and, if you have one, using an emergency weather radio at night in the bedroom.
