Severe thunderstorms Wednesday night kicked off a multiday stretch of rainy weather in the St. Louis region.
According to the National Weather Service in St. Louis, it will rain from Wednesday night through at least Saturday morning as bands of precipitation move across the South and Midwest.
The greatest risk for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes will likely occur at the front of the storm system, said Jayson Gosselin, a meteorologist at the local NWS office.
“There's going to be three or four different rounds of showers and thunderstorms from this afternoon through Saturday night, [and] cold fronts moving through this afternoon, and evening,” he said. “But it's going to stall north of Memphis and then kind of waiver around early this weekend.”
Some of the storms could produce baseball-size hail, damaging winds and tornadoes, forecasters said.
The NWS issued multiple severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings on Wednesday throughout the region and the agency surveyed at least one tornado that touched down near Potosi. The tornado traveled for around five miles before ending south of Mineral Point, in Washington County.
Flooding will pose a higher risk as the rain continues throughout the next few days, Gosselin said.
“The month of March was a dry month for a lot of the area. ... That means the soils are more receptive to rainfall,” he said. “But that only really helps us this first round, or maybe even into tomorrow. But Friday afternoon, Friday night, Saturday morning – by that point in time, our currently fairly dry soils will be long gone.”
The most rainfall is expected to fall in southeastern Missouri near Cape Girardeau and in southern Illinois, near Carbondale. That region also sees an increased threat of tornadoes and other severe weather as storms move into “very favorable conditions” near the Ohio River Valley, forecasters warn.
The heaviest rains are expected in the afternoons and evenings on Thursday and Friday and on Saturday morning.
Banana sadness
The extended forecast caused the baseball exhibition team the Savannah Bananas to cancel its sold-out stint at Busch Stadium scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
City Tourism officials said that more than 200,000 people entered the lottery for tickets to the “Banana Ball” games.
The two games are rescheduled for July.
Explore St. Louis Vice President Catherine Neville said the organization is recommending the thousands of Banana Ball tourists who have booked hotel rooms for the weekend check out hockey and football games instead.
“It is still an epic weekend of sports in St Louis,” Neville said. “There is the Blues game they're playing on Saturday, the BattleHawks home opener is taking place on Sunday, and both of those venues, obviously, are enclosed.”
The Bananas have gained nationwide popularity for their antics-filled take on baseball. Gameplay includes fan participation, stunts and dancing.
Neville urged fans to visit St. Louis City Museum, where participants on Wednesday will try to break the world record for most people wearing banana hats.
“That is still taking place,” she said. “So come to City Museum and wear a banana hat.”
