Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS St. Louis, MO
Issued by NWS St. Louis, MO
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743 FXUS63 KLSX 270657 AFDLSX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Saint Louis MO 157 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - While periods of storms are expected through Monday morning, the most potent thunderstorms will occur this afternoon and evening. - Thunderstorms this afternoon and evening will be capable of damaging wind gusts, large hail, and strong tornadoes. - A period of cool, calm weather is expected mid-week through the weekend. && .SHORT TERM... (Through Tuesday Night) Issued at 155 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 Storms across southeastern Missouri continue to butt up against an instability gradient draped from north to south across Missouri. The warm air advection feeding these storms will also push greater instability slowly northeastward through this morning, though propagation vectors will favor convection continuing to move east- southeastward generally away from the CWA or into an unfavorable environment. Additionally, the low-level jet refocusing across Kansas will continue to support the downward trend in convection across southeastern Missouri early this morning. Any linger storms over the next couple of hours will be capable mainly of large hail, though there is also a very low damaging wind and tornado threat for storms that remain surface based. Our attention turns to the storms over eastern Kansas that are propagating eastward with the nose of the low-level jet. With the nose of this low-level jet edging into northeastern Missouri later this morning, the focus for these storms will spread into portions of the CWA north of I-70. Vertical thermal profiles suggest that this convection will be elevated, mitigating a threat of damaging wind gusts and/or tornadoes. However, with around 40 kts of effective shear and building MUCAPE, there is a low chance for isolated instances of large hail. How long this convection lingers is uncertain, although guidance trends have been toward a lull in convective activity in the wake of this convection and that associated with a cold front during the late afternoon and evening. Ahead of the front, the warm sector remains capped through much of the afternoon per a majority of deterministic soundings. Although, any remnant outflow or differential heating boundary from early day convection may serve as enough of a forcing mechanism to spawn discrete convection during the afternoon as lift from an approaching shortwave increases over the region. If this convection does form, it will be in an environment characterized by 2,000-2,500 J/kg of SBCAPE and roughly 50 kts of deep-layer shear. This will favor supercells capable of all hazards, with long curved hodographs favoring strong tornadoes, especially if storms are able to latch on to any remnant boundaries across the CWA. Where the environment isn`t contaminated from earlier rounds of convection, additional updrafts are expected along the cold front as it enters the area 4-5pm. Forcing from the front paired with lift from the shortwave will lead to numerous updrafts along the front. While this will be occurring within a similar environment detailed prior, the number of updrafts paired with them occurring along the front may lead to destructive interactions and congealing into line segments and/or clusters. While this will tend to limit a strong tornado threat, storms will still be capable of all severe hazards. Convection is expected to depart the CWA with the front by 9-10pm. Even with the FROPA Monday evening, the threat for convection will continue on Tuesday. Guidance consensus has the front stalling just south of the CWA early Tuesday and then buckling northward as a shortwave moves through the Central Plains and into the Midwest through the day. This shortwave will send a subtle surface reflection through the Mid South along the front, with a brief period of warm air advection that will help force elevated convection for areas mainly along and south of I-70. If the front can move northward enough, shear profiles and instability amounts favor supercells capable primarily of large hail across far southeastern Missouri during the afternoon. Waning instability and the front continuing southward will bring an end to rain chances during the evening. Elmore && .LONG TERM... (Tuesday Night through Sunday) Issued at 155 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 Both deterministic guidance and ensemble clusters keep upper-level troughing slowly moving eastward over the eastern CONUS through the long range forecast period. This will maintain northwesterly flow over the Middle Mississippi Valley through Saturday as several rounds of high pressure pass through the region. As a result, temperatures will run at or below climatological normals into the weekend and mostly dry weather is expected. Elmore && .AVIATION... (For the 06z TAFs through 06z Monday Night) Issued at 1231 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 Light to moderate rainfall with occasional lightning strikes are expected at the local terminals through the first several hours of the TAF period. Thunderstorms currently over Kansas will continue eastward overnight and through the early morning hours, impacting KCOU, KJEF, and KUIN during the mid morning hours. There is a low chance that these storms also impact KSUS, KSTL, and KCPS too, but confidence is currently greater that they will stay north of these sites. Yet another round of storms is expected during the late afternoon and evening along a cold front. These storms will have the potential to produce hail, erratic strong winds, and tornadoes. They will be moving quickly, and their window of impact be much more narrow than the current forecast, which is wider due to timing uncertainty. Elmore && .LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MO...None. IL...None. && $$ WFO LSX