Severe weather is a possibility over the next couple of days. Gene Hatch, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield, said we could see severe storms late tonight through tomorrow evening in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. One of the primary concerns, according to Hatch, is large hail.
"We are expecting the potential for hail up to the size of baseballs with some of these storms," he said. "Quite a bit of instability will lend itself to producing very strong updrafts in any storms. Any storms that do get going can also have some strong, damaging straight-line winds."
He said tornadoes are also a possibility with storms tomorrow afternoon and evening.
Memorial Day weekend means a lot of people will be heading to the lake or enjoying other outdoor activities. According to Hatch, you should stay informed, especially if you’re planning to be outdoors.
"If you are outside, make sure you have a way to get warnings and a place where you can get to be safe. Really, if you're out camping or something like that, a tent isn't necessarily the safest place to be, especially if we're considering baseball-sized hail," he said.
According to the National Weather Service, there’s a significant risk for frequent lightning tomorrow, an elevated risk for baseball-sized hail and damaging winds up to 70 miles per hour as well as a limited risk for tornadoes and localized flooding.
