Scattered thunderstorms developed in an environment favorable for severe weather. One cell was able to produce wind damage in St.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS LSX wrote it up.
Scattered thunderstorms developed in an environment favorable for severe weather. One cell was able to produce wind damage in St. Louis County as these thunderstorms pushed into the St. Louis metropolitan area.
The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Apr 15, 6:03 PM CST, 2 hours 29 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion...Updated Aviation National Weather Service Saint Louis MO 703 PM CDT Wed Apr 15 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Showers and thunderstorms are expected through tonight, with a threat of strong to severe thunderstorms capable mainly of damaging winds and large hail through 11pm. - Showers and thunderstorms, some strong to severe, are expected again on Friday. && .SHORT TERM... (Through Late Friday Night) Issued at 159 PM CDT Wed Apr 15 2026 A series of shortwaves can be seen across the Great Plains in water vapor imagery, with southwesterly flow across the Middle Mississippi Valley ahead of these waves. An elongated fetch of warm, moist air is feeding into the region from the Gulf, aiding in forcing scattered showers and thunderstorms now across southeastern Missouri and southwestern Illinois. Model and ACARS soundings out of KSTL suggest that this convection is elevated above an inversion at 800- 850 mb. Associated convective debris has been inhibiting surface heating so far, causing a dearth of instability along and south of the MO I-44/IL I-55 corridor this afternoon. Westward across western Missouri, insolation and mid-60s to low 70s dewpoints have yielded upwards of 2000 J/kg of MLCAPE per recent SPC mesoanalysis. Here, an extensive area of cumulus can be seen in visible satellite imagery. Subtle leading waves within the southwesterly flow and an area of lift via jet dynamics will produce nebulous lift across portions of central and northeastern Missouri, as well as west-central Illinois through this afternoon into this evening. If enough surface heating is realized, then the cap will break, allowing for scattered showers and thunderstorms among the aforementioned instability and about 50 kts of effective shear. This is an environment favorable for organized updrafts, with some supercell structures possible. A limiting factor for robust supercells is slight veer-back-veer vertical wind profiles and/or weak low to mid-level flow noted in ACARS soundings and the KLSX VWP. A mostly straight hodograph with these attributes will lead to both left and right-moving updrafts that will tend to be shorter-lived as they interact and grow into localized clusters. If this round materializes, large hail and damaging wind gusts will be the primary threats, though about 20 kts of 0-1km shear and 200m2/s2 of low-level SRH means that there is a low chance for brief tornadoes. A solution that CAMs are increasingly supporting is that convection this afternoon and early evening remains mostly subdued, allowing for the atmosphere to remain undisturbed ahead of a cold front moving into the region this evening and the early overnight hours. Then, lift from the shortwave and upper-level jet will be greater, pairing with the cold front to force numerous updrafts along and immediately ahead of the front as it moves eastward. Initially, both the vertical wind and thermal profile will be similar as this afternoon, leading to discrete supercells. Confidence is high that these discrete storms will form west of the CWA, growing upscale into clusters and line segments as they interact with each other and the front thanks to deep layer shear vectors parallel to the boundary. These interactions and waning instability after sunset will lead to a weakening trend as the line segments move into the CWA. The primary threat with this round will be damaging wind gusts, with line segments surging northeastward carrying a tornado threat thanks to 30-40kts of 0-3km shear vectors oriented southwest to northeast. Once the convection and associated stratiform rain clears the CWA during the early morning hours, mainly dry conditions are expected through early Friday. Though, there is a low chance for convection across southeastern Missouri and southwestern Illinois tomorrow afternoon. Our attention then turns to Friday as a highly-amplified trough ejects out into the Plains and sends a cold front into the Midwest. Ahead of this front, ensemble clusters have a median value of 2,000 J/kg of SBCAPE, with deterministic models showing as much as 3-4,000 J/kg. Deep layer shear is progged to be 45-50 kts, creating a environment conducive for strong to severe thunderstorms across much of the Midwest. Given the lead time and forecast load prior to then, further details on thunderstorm threats, timing, and placement for Friday will wait until later updates. Elmore && .LONG TERM... (Saturday through Next Wednesday) Issued at 159 PM CDT Wed Apr 15 2026 At daybreak Saturday morning, guidance consensus is that Friday's front will be deep into the Ohio Valley and clear of the CWA as the axis of the upper-level trough pivots eastward toward the Middle Mississippi Valley. With the core of this trough and the track of the associated surface low being well north-northeast of the region, the CWA will miss out on the core of the post-frontal airmass. Still, increasingly deep northwesterly flow will push cooler air into the CWA, pushing Saturday and Sunday's temperatures to at and just below climatological normals. The trough will quickly shift eastward early next week, allowing for low to mid-level ridging to build and southwesterly flow to return across the region. This favors warming temperatures, with ensembles clustering around seasonal normals starting Monday and then above normal by mid-week. Elmore && .AVIATION... (For the 00z TAFs through 00z Thursday Evening) Issued at 702 PM CDT Wed Apr 15 2026 A cold front is moving eastward, entering western MO, with a south- southwest to north-northeast oriented broken line of strong to severe storms along and ahead of the approaching boundary. These storms are forecast to near the central Missouri terminals at the start of the TAF, followed by KUIN and then the STL metro terminals later this evening/early tonight. Any thunderstorms that directly impacts terminals will be capable of IFR visibilities, gusty and variable winds, along with heavy rain and frequent lightning. Scattered showers may linger behind convection with conditions expected to improve by late tonight for all terminals. Surface winds veer southwesterly behind the front overnight becoming increasingly southerly by Thursday afternoon. Peine && .LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MO...None. IL...None. && WFO LSX
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service St Louis MO 205 PM CDT Wed Apr 15 2026 ILZ058>060-064-065-069-070-074-079-095>102-MOZ018-019-026-027- 034>036-041-042-047>052-059>065-072>075-084-085-099-161915- 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- 205 PM CDT Wed Apr 15 2026 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of eastern and central Missouri as well as west central and southwest Illinois. .DAY ONE...Tonight. Thunderstorms are expected this evening and tonight. Storms this evening will be capable of scattered instances of damaging winds and large hail. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday. Thunderstorms are forecast Friday and Friday night. Storms will be capable of becoming strong to severe. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time. Elmore
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 17 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:30 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds caused a large tree limb to fall onto a house.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, April 2026
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1331458.