Month: May 2025

Along with widespread rain and a potential flooding risk, isolated severe thunderstorms are possible over the Memorial Day weekend in the Ozarks.

The National Weather Service says there’s a Level 1 “marginal risk” for severe storms generally along and west of Highway 65 Friday night, with an area-wide “marginal risk” on Saturday.

Quarter size hail will be the main hazard, with some storms carrying wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour.

Some parts of southwest Missouri, including the Springfield area, could get 6 to 8 inches of rain over the holiday weekend, leading to concerns of more flooding.

The first of several rounds of rain will start Friday night into Saturday morning, with round two Saturday night into Sunday morning, and a third round from Sunday night into Monday morning.

Soils are already saturated from recent rains and stream levels are already elevated.

The Greene County Sheriff is investigating human remains found at a homeless camp west of Springfield.

Deputies responded to the intersection of Junction Street and Farm Road 123 for a report of skeletal remains.

Sheriff Jim Arnott says if you have information about the case, call the sheriff’s office tip line at 417-829-6230.

Large hail up to the size of golf balls is possible in the southern Ozarks Wednesday evening into the overnight hours.

The National Weather Service says areas along and south of Highway 60 are under a Level 2 “slight risk” for severe storms, with areas from Springfield up to Nevada under a Level 1 “marginal risk” for bad weather.

Forecasters say localized damaging wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour will also be possible.

There will be another chance of strong to severe storms Friday night, with areas along and west of Highway 65 under a marginal risk for severe weather.

Several rounds of rain are expected from Friday through Sunday, with the main threat of flooding being Saturday into Monday.

Here’s the latest packet from the National Weather Service outlining severe weather and flooding expectations.

Severe thunderstorms moved through the Ozarks Monday evening, bringing down trees and power lines.

Several tornado warnings were issued northwest of Springfield in parts of Vernon, St. Clair, Webster, and Wright Counties.

The tornado warning for Webster and Wright Counties lasted for around 10 minutes before being cancelled because the storm that prompted the warning had weakened below severe limits.

The town of Lowry City in St. Clair County along Highway 13 was hit particularly hard, with many reports of power lines down and outages in both Lowry City and Deepwater.

Amateur radio operators reported the roof of a barn blocking southbound Highway 13 in Lowry City around 7:00pm.

Iconium, Missouri fire reported multiple trees down along Highway HH blocking roadways in multiple places.

Joplin also reported power lines down, with more than 1,000 outages in Newton and McDonald Counties and almost 2,000 outages in McDonald County.

In Nixa, storms that moved through early Monday evening caused a couple of transformer fires in the city, including the 300 block of north Estes Street and the 700 block of east Mining Camp Road.

Just before 10:00pm Monday, we had reports of a tree down on Highway 14 in the Ava area.

By 10:00pm Monday, a Tornado Watch remained in effect for the eastern Ozarks until 3:00am Tuesday.

Several inches of rain fell in a short amount of time, causing flash flooding in southwest Missouri.

A Flash Flood Warning was issued for southeastern Greene, Christian, Webster, northwestern Douglas, and Stone Counties until 2:15am Tuesday.

A Flash Flood Warning was issued for McDonald County until 1:45am Tuesday, and another for northwestern Barton and southern Vernon Counties until 11:30pm Monday night.

(photo of roof off a garage in Carterville, MO courtesy of Jeff Morrissey, SW MO Regional Skywarn via NWS Chat)

Potentially significant severe weather will impact the Ozarks Monday and Monday night, with a widespread area that could get multiple rounds of severe storms.

The National Weather Service says all hazards are possible, including tornadoes.

Some strong tornadoes are possible in areas south of a line from Joplin to Monett, where a level 4 out of 5 “moderate risk” is in effect.

Hail up to the size of tennis balls and damaging winds of 70 to 80 miles per hour are possible.

In addition to severe weather, flooding is a concern in the Ozarks, with a Flood Watch in effect from Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning.

Multiple rounds of showers and storms will result in many areas getting 1 to 3 inches of additional rainfall, with localized areas seeing up to 4 to 6 inches.

Get the latest graphics on tornado, hail and damaging wind probabilities, along with flooding, from the National Weather Service here.