Severe thunderstorms pushed from eastern Kansas into the western Ozarks Wednesday evening, bringing damaging winds of 60 miles per hour, and some hail, along with cloud to ground lightning.
The National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for all but our far eastern counties (Wright, Ozark and Douglas Counties) until 12:00 a.m. Thursday.
We had reports of large tree down near 1900 Road northeast of Milo in Vernon County around 7:30 p.m.
The weather service issued Severe Thunderstorm Warnings for portions of St. Clair, Barton and Vernon Counties, but those warnings expired by 8:15 p.m.
At 8:11 p.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service said storms had shown a general decreasing trend over the past 15 to 20 minutes, causing the weather service to not issue any further warnings.
Wind gusts of 50 to 55 miles per hour (just below severe limits) were expected as the line of storms moved into the Stockton Lake area, and parts of Hickory, Cedar, Northern Polk and St. Clair Counties, as well as parts of Barton and Jasper Counties, including Joplin, Carthage and Lamar.
A Wind Advisory remained in effect for much of the Ozarks until midnight, with up to 50 mile per hour wind gusts possible outside of thunderstorms.