Thursday, August 15 Forecast: Summer turns stormy before another vacation

It’s been a bumpy evening along I-44 where scattered storms have focused. Heavy rain and lightning came with reports of large hail and strong winds in the strongest storms. The largest hail report came out of Decaturville of hail up to tennis ball size. The risk of scattered storms will continue near and south of I-44 overnight, but it looks like the severe weather risk is quickly winding down.

Heavy rain remains an issue though with the risk of flash flooding where storms can persist. A Flash Flood Warning remains in effect for Wright and Texas Counties through early Friday morning.

Storms will gradually push southeast out of the area by sunrise.

A frontal boundary will work south into Northern Arkansas Friday, but the heat will remain. Mostly sunny skies will drive afternoon temperatures back into the low to mid-90s, but the humidity levels should be running lower.

The front will remain a highway for additional storms to move along, especially Friday night into Saturday. A cluster of storms or clusters of storms are expected to push southeast out of Kansas and Northeast Oklahoma Friday night through Saturday morning. We’ll have to watch for strong winds with these storms along with pockets of heavy rainfall.

The rain will wind down by noon with clouds thinning out. Saturday afternoon will become mostly sunny with some lingering heat. Mild, dry air will filter in by Sunday making for a bright day with highs below 90°.

The trough that we’ve seen in the East so much of this summer will once again amplify this weekend through next week. Mild, low-humidity air will press back into the Ozarks. The pattern overall looks dry, but we’ll have to keep an eye on areas of clouds and showers spilling down the east side of the summer ridge to the west. Some of this cloud cover, and maybe even shower activity, could clip some of the region.

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