2:45am UPDATE: The National Weather Service says the Tornado Watch will be allowed to expire at 3:00AM Saturday.
1:00am UPDATE: The National Weather Service has extended the Tornado Watch for southwest Missouri until 3:00am Saturday. Storms moving in from Kansas and Oklahoma along a front pose a severe threat. This is the round 2 that was talked about through all of Friday in the forecast.
12:00am UPDATE: A tornado warning for the city of Springfield, Ozark, Nixa and parts of Greene, Christian and Stone Counties expired. The warning was issued at 11:36pm based on radar indicated rotation. There were no confirmed reports of a tornado touchdown.
10:30pm Storm Update: We’ve had a couple of tornado warnings issued late Friday night, including one for western McDonald County and another for Newton and northern McDonald Counties. Those had expired by 11:00pm.
McDonald County opened its FEMA shelter just after 9pm Friday.
Nixa Junior High, Mathews Elementary, and Inman Intermediate tornado safe rooms are open for the duration of the Tornado Watch.
FEMA storm shelters at Seneca Schools and Neosho Schools opened through the remainder of the Tornado Watch.
Wind gusts up to 81 miles per hour southwest of Goodman, reported by Newton County Emergency Management.
Around 300 power outages were reported in Lamar after storms moved through earlier Friday night. We had reports of a tree down and a pole on a house and reports of a semi flipped over along I-49 in the Lamar area, with one person injured.
We’re expecting two rounds of severe thunderstorms in the Ozarks Friday and Friday night, and both will be capable of producing all modes of severe weather.
We’ve had reports of a power line down in a roadway in the Humansville area, with 60 mile per hour winds reported in Polk County.
A Tornado Watch is in effect until 1:00am Saturday for much of the Ozarks, with all but our southeastern counties included.
That means that conditions are favorable for the development of tornadoes in the watch area.
The National Weather Service says the first round will move in Friday afternoon and evening west of Highway 65, with a second round of severe weather late Friday evening into the overnight hours across the entire area.
Hail could be as large as tennis balls, with winds of 70 miles per hour and tornadoes.
The greatest large hail and tornado risk will be west of Highway 65 with the initial supercells Friday afternoon and evening.
We’ll keep you up to date on all watches and warnings with live coverage on 93-3 and AM 560 KWTO.