It felt more like June than mid-April across the St. Louis area on Wednesday, and the warm spell is not done yet. Scattered thunderstorms are expected to move through this evening and continue overnight, with the strongest cells capable of pea-sized hail and wind gusts up to 45 mph.
Morning lows are forecast to dip into the lower to middle 60s, keeping the air mild well into Thursday. A few showers could show up early in the day before partly cloudy skies return, and an isolated storm or two remains possible in the afternoon. No severe weather is anticipated Thursday, even as highs climb into the lower 80s.
The bigger shift comes Friday, when the region should stay mostly warm and windy and highs rise into the middle to upper 80s. That stretch of unseasonably warm weather for mid-April gives way Saturday, when a cold front moves through and thunderstorms are possible. Those storms currently carry only a marginal outlook, and highs Saturday are expected to stay mostly in the 60s.
The main question is how sharp the weekend cooldown feels after the heat. Some parts of the region may wake up Sunday morning to temperatures in the upper 30s and lower 40s, a fast turn from Friday’s spring-like warmth. For readers following the St Louis Weather Radar, the First Alert Weather App is the place to check for updates as the front approaches.