Thursday, May 2: The start of a soggy set of days

Scattered areas of showers and thunderstorms came with a little excitement earlier today when a series of tornado warnings were issued for areas between Joplin and Lamar. At least one confirmed tornado, an EF-0, did touch down with several funnel clouds reported. The tornado came on a day when none were expected. The tornado was a “landspout” tornado. These are different from the “supercell” variety, generally weak and brief. They aren’t associated with a rotating updraft. They develop as a result of a little spin near the surface being stretched by the updraft of a developing thunderstorm.

These types of tornadoes are difficult to pinpoint on radar and even harder to predict, which is why very little warning was issued before touchdown in Joplin. Thankfully, only minor damages have been reported at this time.

Rain chances will wrap up overnight making way for a mostly cloudy start to the day on Friday. Expect clouds to thin some by afternoon with warm and humid weather hanging around as we can’t completely rule out the chance of a few pop-up showers in the afternoon, mainly south of I-44.

For the weekend, the persistent southwest flow will set the scene for a soggy pattern as multiple waves of wet weather and scattered storms will come our way. Rain and thunderstorms are expected to move in Saturday along a cold front, likely arriving in the morning and wrapping up by late afternoon.

Another wave arrives later on Sunday as a weak shortwave system moves through. Conditions will remain a little warm and humid, and the overnight and morning hours could feature some areas of dense fog, especially south of I-44.

Severe weather chances look limited through the weekend thanks to rather weak levels of wind energy. That said, a few of the storms may become strong enough to produce some hail and locally strong winds. Heavy rain could lead to some localized flooding as well with rain totals through the weekend between 1-3″ overall.

While the pattern for this weekend is looking thankfully more soggy than stormy, things might be shaking the other way for the middle of the upcoming work week. A stronger storm system will move into the middle of the country bringing stronger atmospheric winds back to the region once more returning the threat of severe weather chances.

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