Alert archive / Missouri / River Flood Warnings in 2026

River Flood Warning 28, NWS St. Louis, MO

April 18, 2026Osage County, Missouri

NWS St. Louis, MO issued this river flood warning at Apr 18, 2026, 6:04 AM CDT for Osage County, Missouri. It took effect at Apr 18, 2026, 9:43 AM CDT. It was in force for 12 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 18, 2026, 6:04 AM CDT (11:04 UTC)
In effect from
Apr 18, 2026, 9:43 AM CDT
Expired
Apr 18, 2026, 9:32 PM CDT
In force
12 hr
Issued by
NWS St. Louis, MO
Area
Storm-based polygon
Flood severity
Minor

County Osage County, MO

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 119 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:04 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The river

Written for the forecast point Maries River at Westphalia (WPHM7).

Action stage
8 ft
Minor stage
10 ft
Moderate stage
15 ft
Major stage
20 ft

This gauge today: stage, forecast and historic crests

Stage from the USGS instantaneous record for site 06927000, one reading an hour, from a day before the product to a day after it ended. Flood stages are today's.

The text

As transmitted.

840 
WGUS43 KLSX 181104
FLWLSX

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
Flood Warning
National Weather Service St Louis MO
604 AM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

...The National Weather Service in St Louis has issued a Flood
Warning for the following rivers in Missouri...

  Maries River near Westphalia.

River forecasts are based on observed precipitation and forecast
precipitation for the next 24 hours.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood
deaths occur in vehicles.

Rainfall heavier than forecast could cause river levels to rise even
higher than predicted. The National Weather Service will monitor this
developing situation and issue follow up statements as conditions
change.

This product, along with additional weather and stream information,
is available at https://water.noaa.gov/wfo/lsx

&&

MOC151-192315-
/O.NEW.KLSX.FL.W.0028.260418T1443Z-260420T0200Z/
/WPHM7.1.ER.260418T1443Z.260418T1800Z.260418T2010Z.NO/
604 AM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

...FLOOD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM THIS MORNING TO SUNDAY EVENING...

* WHAT...Minor flooding is forecast.

* WHERE...Maries River near Westphalia.

* WHEN...From this morning to Sunday evening.

* IMPACTS...At 12.1 feet, The north end of County Road 521 begins
  flooding adjacent to the river near this height.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...
  - At 5:00 AM CDT Saturday the stage was 8.1 feet.
  - Forecast...The river is expected to rise above flood stage late
    this morning to a crest of 11.2 feet this afternoon. It will then
    fall below flood stage late this afternoon.
  - Flood stage is 10.0 feet.



&&


All Times CDT Fld   Observed  Forecasts (7:00 am)
Location      Stg     Stage   Sun   Mon   Tue   Wed   Thu

Maries River
 Westphalia   10.0    8.1     4.2   3.3   2.5   2.3   MSG



&&

LAT...LON 3843 9205 3852 9197 3846 9193 3829 9194
      3829 9203


$$

Maples
2 follow-up statements
135 
WGUS83 KLSX 181459
FLSLSX

Flood Statement
National Weather Service St Louis MO
959 AM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

...The Flood Warning is extended for the following rivers in
Missouri...

  Maries River near Westphalia.

River forecasts are based on observed precipitation and forecast
precipitation for the next 24 hours.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood
deaths occur in vehicles.

Rainfall heavier than forecast could cause river levels to rise even
higher than predicted. The National Weather Service will monitor this
developing situation and issue follow up statements as conditions
change.

This product, along with additional weather and stream information,
is available at https://water.noaa.gov/wfo/lsx

&&

MOC151-200300-
/O.EXT.KLSX.FL.W.0028.000000T0000Z-260420T1030Z/
/WPHM7.1.ER.260418T1422Z.260419T0000Z.260419T0430Z.NO/
959 AM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

...FLOOD WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL LATE SUNDAY NIGHT...

* WHAT...Minor flooding is occurring and minor flooding is forecast.

* WHERE...Maries River near Westphalia.

* WHEN...Until late Sunday night.

* IMPACTS...At 9.0 feet, County Road 610 begins flooding near the
  Indian Creek bridge near this height.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...
  - At 9:32 AM CDT Saturday the stage was 10.1 feet.
  - Recent Activity...The maximum river stage in the 24 hours ending
    at 9:32 AM CDT Saturday was 10.1 feet.
  - Forecast...The river is expected to rise to a crest of 11.5 feet
    this evening. It will then fall below flood stage late this
    evening.
  - Flood stage is 10.0 feet.



&&


All Times CDT Fld   Observed  Forecasts (7:00 am)
Location      Stg     Stage   Sun   Mon   Tue   Wed   Thu

Maries River
 Westphalia   10.0    10.1    7.1   3.7   2.7   2.3   2.1



&&

LAT...LON 3843 9205 3852 9197 3846 9193 3829 9194
      3829 9203


$$

Jaja
964 
WGUS83 KLSX 190232
FLSLSX

Flood Statement
National Weather Service St Louis MO
932 PM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

...The Flood Warning is cancelled for the following river in
Missouri...

  Maries River near Westphalia.

River forecasts are based on observed precipitation and forecast
precipitation for the next 24 hours.

MOC151-190345-
/O.CAN.KLSX.FL.W.0028.000000T0000Z-260419T0232Z/
/WPHM7.1.ER.260418T1422Z.260418T2145Z.260419T0104Z.NO/
932 PM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

...FLOOD WARNING IS CANCELLED...

The Flood Warning is cancelled for
  the Maries River near Westphalia.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...
  - At 9:00 PM CDT Saturday the stage was 8.6 feet.
  - Forecast...The river is expected to fall to 2.1 feet Thursday
    evening.



&&


All Times CDT Fld   Observed  Forecasts (7:00 am)
Location      Stg     Stage   Mon   Tue   Wed   Thu   Fri

Maries River
 Westphalia   10.0    8.6     3.5   2.5   2.3   2.1   MSG



&&

LAT...LON 3843 9205 3852 9197 3846 9193 3829 9194
      3829 9203


$$

Delia

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this river flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before this river flood warning went out at Apr 18, 2:58 AM CDT, 3 hours 6 minutes earlier. Its key messages:

  • Dry conditions are expected through the remainder of the weekend with cooler (50s) air moderating back to the 60s Sunday.
  • Many locations will cool into the 30s tonight with a low potential (<50%) for patchy frost Sunday morning. Any frost should be confined to vegetation and obejects elevated off the surface.
  • Warming continues through the remainder of week with another active period expect by late week into next weekend.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 18, 2:58 AM CDT, 3 hours 6 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Saint Louis MO
258 AM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Dry conditions are expected through the remainder of the weekend
  with cooler (50s) air moderating back to the 60s Sunday.

- Many locations will cool into the 30s tonight with a low
  potential (<50%) for patchy frost Sunday morning. Any frost
  should be confined to vegetation and obejects elevated off the
  surface.

- Warming continues through the remainder of week with another
  active period expect by late week into next weekend.

&&

.SHORT TERM...  (Through Late Sunday Afternoon)
Issued at 257 AM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

A strong cold front continues to make its way southeastward this
morning with remnants of last night's thunderstorms. Lightning has
become far less common through early this morning as cooler air has
undercut the precipitation, bringing an end to the severe threat.

Pockets of steady/moderate rainfall are embedded within the broader
field of stratiform rainfall behind the front. This all shifts
southeast of the CWA around 16z this morning with improvement expect
going forward. The airmass behind the front include dewpoints in the
teens and 20s over the northern Plains. While air will not be that
dry at all locations, it does make it into the northern reaches of
the forecast area with dewpoints in the 30s over southwest MO and
southwest IL. Cloud cover gradually clears from west to east with
increasing sunshine over central/NE MO through 12 p.m. Clearing
continues southeastward, but clouds linger through at least mid-
afternoon southeast of the metro area.

An upper level trough over Canada extends southward into the
Mississippi Valley today. The trough is below the 5th percentile of
climatological means with heights in the 10th-25th extending into
the local area. Cold air advection behind the front draws the 0C H8
isotherm into the region with mid-level temperatures ranging from
the low single digits below OC to the single digits above 0C on
northwesterly flow. Temperatures were in the 50s/60s with 40s not
far to the northwest as of 07z (2 a.m.) this morning. CAA will keep
temperatures fairly steady and where cloud cover lingers, it'll feel
quite cool relative to recent warmth. Highs will range from the mid-
50s to near 60 degrees. Mixing deepens late this morning through the
afternoon with diurnally driven gusts of 20-25 mph.

Gusts subside this evening as mid-level ridging begins to shift from
near the TX Panhandle into the northern Gulf Region. Meanwhile, a
surface high begins to build southeast out of Canada into the Upper
Midwest. Clear skies and light winds will allow temperatures to drop
into the 30s/40s tonight. The coldest locations (mid-30s) may be
cool enough to support patchy frost. However, the strongest argument
against this potential is the warm surface with regional soil
temperatures showing 2 inch depths in the low-60s to near 70
degrees. Considering the recent rainfall, moisture content will keep
ground temperatures from cooling much and highly likely to stave off
frost at near-ground levels. Elevated, exposed objects may be the
most susceptible and even then 30s only lasts 3-4 hours (max) around
the coolest locations.

The tandem of ridges begin to slide east Sunday with modest warming
being driven in from the Plains. It'll be the pick day of the
weekend with low dewpoints (30s) and rebounding temperatures. We
will tack on about 10 degrees to daytime highs under mostly clear
skies. Temperatures return to the 60s for most locations and
flirting with 70 degrees to the north/east of the Ozarks.

Maples

&&

.LONG TERM...  (Sunday Night through Friday)
Issued at 257 AM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

Ridging that shifts east eventually consolidates into a broader
ridge over the eastern CONUS Sunday night into Monday. A weak cold
front extends well south of a low pressure system over Canada and
attempts to drop southward into the area in the later half of the
day Sunday. Guidance shows the front stalling or yielding to return
flow at the back side of the eastern ridge. The pattern carries over
into early next week with slightly warming over Sunday's
temperautres. Highs range from the low/mid-60s (IL) to the low-70s
from the Ozarks through central and southeast MO.

NBM IQRs remain rather tightly clustered through Thursday with
increasing confidence in dry conditions and a more significant warm-
up Tuesday. This warm-up is driven by an increasing pressure
gradient between an upper low over the Hudson Bay and strong
mid-level ridging over the northern Gulf. 20-25C mid-level air is
sources from the lee side of the Colorado Rockies into the mid-
Mississippi Valley with mid-level air ranging from 10-15C locally.
This pattern persists through Thursday, where IQRs then begin to
spread late Thursday into Friday. Another period of above normal
warmth with highs in the mid-70s to low-80 Tuesday and Wednesday.
The warmest conditions arrive Thursday with low/mid-80s for highs.

The pattern that brought this weekend's showers and thunderstorms
seems to repeat again next weekend. Global guidance varies on an
exact solution, but broader themes can be pulled from the synoptic
setup. The eastern ridge moves into the mid-Atlantic Region as an
upper trough leads to surface cyclogensis over the Plains. This is
where guidance deviates from one another with the timing, position,
and track of the surface low. A cold front trails the system and
supports convection over the central sections of the CONUS, but the
extent and placement of convective trends will depend on what plays
out between the more northern solution of the ECM and southern
solution of the GFS. Both show a version of showers and
thunderstorms along the cold front to our west Thursday night,
progressing eastward into the area by Friday. Timing will be key,
but as of now, this initial round comes during diurnal minimums and
may signal another round of weakening covection and widespread
showers/occasional thunderstorms.

Maples

&&

.AVIATION...  (For the 06z TAFs through 06z Saturday Night)
Issued at 1230 AM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

Thunderstorms continue to weaken with the southeast progression of
a cold front that will eventually bring all rain to an end at all
terminals through sunrise. TSRA has become less frequent over the
last couple of hours with the back edge of the stratiform
precipitation lining up from KCOU through KUIN. PROB30 groups were
leveraged to carry lingering -SHRA through with brief dips to
high-end MVFR following the front. KJEF holds onto TSRA potential
for a couple of hours longer than KCOU.

SHRA extends southwest through KSGF, which will track east-
northeast through the next several hours. Most of this will pass
south of the metro terminals, coinciding with its weakening
phase. Therefore, -TSRA is not favored at metro terminals through
the remainder of the morning, though a brief dip to MVFR is
possible through early morning. Conditions then improve to VFR and
persists through Saturday. Gust winds are expected to return
through the daylight period before subsiding around 00z.

Maples

&&

.LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MO...Flood Watch until 4 AM CDT early this morning for Audrain MO-
     Boone MO-Callaway MO-Cole MO-Knox MO-Lewis MO-Lincoln MO-
     Marion MO-Moniteau MO-Monroe MO-Montgomery MO-Osage MO-Pike
     MO-Ralls MO-Shelby MO.

IL...Flood Watch until 4 AM CDT early this morning for Adams IL-Brown
     IL-Calhoun IL-Greene IL-Jersey IL-Macoupin IL-Montgomery IL-
     Pike IL.

&&

WFO LSX
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 18, 3:03 AM CDT, 3 hours 1 minute before
Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service St Louis MO
303 AM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

ILZ058>060-064-065-069-070-074-079-095>102-MOZ018-019-026-027-
034>036-041-042-047>052-059>065-072>075-084-085-099-190815-
Greene IL-Macoupin IL-Montgomery IL-Bond IL-Fayette IL-Clinton IL-
Marion IL-Washington IL-Randolph IL-Adams IL-Brown IL-Pike IL-
Calhoun IL-Jersey IL-Madison IL-Saint Clair IL-Monroe IL-Knox MO-
Lewis MO-Shelby MO-Marion MO-Monroe MO-Ralls MO-Pike MO-Boone MO-
Audrain MO-Moniteau MO-Cole MO-Osage MO-Callaway MO-Montgomery MO-
Lincoln MO-Gasconade MO-Warren MO-Saint Charles MO-Franklin MO-
Saint Louis MO-Saint Louis City MO-Jefferson MO-Crawford MO-
Washington MO-Saint Francois MO-Sainte Genevieve MO-Iron MO-
Madison MO-Reynolds MO-
303 AM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of eastern and
central Missouri as well as west central and southwest Illinois.

.DAY ONE...Today and tonight.

There is a slight chance of thunderstorms over southeast Missouri
and southwest Illinois early this morning.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday.

There is a chance of thunderstorms late Thursday through Friday.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation is not expected at this time.

Maples

The office that day

Everything else NWS St. Louis, MO issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 17, 7:21 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatLSXMarion, Monroe, Pike, Ralls54 min
Apr 17, 7:42 PM CDTTornado WarningLSXBoone, Callaway, Cole, Moniteau48 min
Apr 17, 7:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatLSXBoone, Callaway, Cole, Moniteau, Osage63 min
Apr 17, 8:17 PM CDTTornado WarningLSXBoone, Callaway, Cole, Moniteau43 min
Apr 17, 8:30 PM CDTTornado WarningLSXCallaway, Cole, Osage45 min
Apr 17, 8:45 PM CDTTornado WarningLSXAudrain, Callaway, Montgomery45 min
Apr 17, 8:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSXCallaway, Franklin, Gasconade, Montgomery, Osage, Warren48 min
Apr 17, 9:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSXLincoln, Montgomery, Pike52 min
Apr 17, 9:29 PM CDTTornado WarningLSXLincoln, Montgomery, Warren31 min
Apr 17, 9:36 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedLSXWarren20 min
Apr 17, 9:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSXLincoln, Saint Charles, Warren48 min
Apr 17, 9:50 PM CDTTornado WarningLSXLincoln25 min
Apr 17, 10:02 PM CDTRiver Flood WarningLSXLewis12 days
Apr 17, 10:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSXSaint Charles31 min
Apr 18, 12:52 AM CDTRiver Flood WarningLSXLewis11 hr
Apr 18, 9:59 AM CDTRiver Flood WarningLSXMarion10 hr
Apr 18, 10:49 AM CDTRiver Flood WarningLSXCole63 hr
Apr 18, 12:05 PM CDTRiver Flood WarningLSXMarion21 days
Apr 18, 12:05 PM CDTRiver Flood WarningLSXMarion9 hr
Apr 18, 5:05 PM CDTRiver Flood WarningLSXReynolds16 hr

Nearby

River Flood Warnings in Missouri, 2026Every river flood warning in 2026

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive; the gauge from the NWS water service and the USGS.