KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A First Warn Weather Day is in place today for the level 3/5 threat for severe weather. A cold front will drop through the area late this afternoon and through midnight, triggering the chance for rain, storms and severe weather.

A Tornado Watch has been issued until 10 p.m. This does include eastern Kansas and western Missouri, including the KC metro. A line of storms will develop over the next few hours, and we are going to be watching for embedded spin-up tornadoes on that line.

Isolated tornadoes, hail up to ping pong ball size and embedded wind gusts exceeding 80 mph will be possible along this line of storms later this evening.

We will likely have rain and storms occur from 2 – 11 tonight with the most severe storm activity moving through as a line between 7 – 11 p.m. However, there will be the chance for some widely scattered showers and non-severe rumbles before 2 p.m.

These non-severe showers and rumbles if they continue to occur could start to work over the atmosphere which in turn could impact the severe weather threat this evening along the line.

While we are no longer under a Wind Advisory, breezy to windy conditions remain until later this afternoon. However, it will be hard to shake some gusts of 30 to 35 mph. The cloud cover and rain showers will work to keep us cooler than we have been over the last few days. We will only gradually climb to the mid-70s by this afternoon.

As we move towards around 2 p,m. it’s likely we’ll see scattered or isolated showers and a few thunderstorms. During this time there may be one or two severe weather storms randomly populating through the region ahead of the front.

This will continue on and off until we move to the early evening between 5 – 7 p.m. when the front is introduced from the west. This second round between 7 – midnight is the main event. We anticipate a line of strong storms to develop along the front, with a high potential for severe storms. All modes of severe weather will be possible with any severe storm that gets going. Damaging straight-line winds will be the primary threat, wind gusts are possible between 60 – 80 mph within these storms as they become severe. A few spin-up tornadoes will also be possible and could be embedded within the line of storms. Small hail is also a hazard.

As we move into the evening, it is important you have a plan in place for this severe thunderstorm activity. In the event we break into programming for severe storm coverage this evening, Survivor and The Summit will be simulcasted on KSMO.

To monitor active radar click here.

The storms move quickly through the region, and we anticipate them exiting the metro between midnight – 2 a.m. Thursday morning.

This will lead to a quiet but chilly Halloween. The trick-or-treating forecast from 5 – 9 p.m. will gradually drop from the mid-50s to the upper 40s, with winds not a factor at less than 5 mph.

As we move into the weekend, several new storm systems develop providing extended rain and storm activity. We’re seeing more confidence in thunderstorms developing overall, but still, not enough information to provide details on a severe weather threat. What we do see is consistent rainfall between 3 – 5 inches, conservatively. This is going to be a lot of water in a short amount of time which may lead to flooding concerns due to such dry conditions over the past several weeks.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for our northern counties until 7 p.m.

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