More severe weather is on the way

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - More rain continued overnight, putting stress on storm drains and contributing more water to an already swollen Mississippi River.

Meteorologist Kelly Hooper with the National Weather Service in Paducah, Kentucky says that there were no severe storms overnight, though flash flood warnings exist for much of the area. Most areas received another half inch of rainfall.

And more severe weather could be on the way.

Hooper says that another line of powerful storms will affect the area tonight … and the storms should be more severe than this weekend’s storms.

“What’s happened is this cold front has stalled over the area. Impulses in the upper levels are rotating through, creating these daily or nightly rounds of thunderstorms, or both in some cases. But coming tonight they’re going to try to push that front on through us, and that’s going to create more favorable wind profiles to get some rotating storms, or possibly some tornadic storms,” Hooper said.

Forecasts show that most of the severe weather will occur in areas south of Cape Girardeau … from West Plains to the Bootheel.

Hooper says flash flooding typically occurs when we receive an inch of rain per hour. The ground is so saturated now, though, that the National Weather Service is receiving reports of flash floods with half-an-inch per hour.

There is an end within sight. The rain should stop by Thursday morning.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

Posted in: flooding,Kelly Hooper,National Weather Service,tornado