Southeast Missouri temperatures plummeted nearly thirty degrees this Thursday.
Midday temperatures settled above eighty degrees. They fell near fifty degrees by late afternoon and early evening.
Robin Smith is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. He says there is no severe weather expected, but people should still prepare for the rapidly changing conditions.
“The winds are going to be gusting twenty five, thirty miles an hour out of the north, and then the high temperatures are going to be in the middle fifties through the weekend with wind chills pushing in the morning down around forty degrees because we’re going to have a real strong north wind,” Smith said.
While the temperature drop may feel like the arrival of autumn, Smith says it’s only a side effect of a temporary cold front.
“We have been looking at this for about a week. And it will feel like the first good bite of fall: eighties for the past three days and then the high temperatures are going to be in the middle fifties through the weekend,” Smith said. “Between the rain, the cold temperatures, the high winds, it’s going to feel like the first good bite of fall.”
The National Weather service expects chances for rain and thunderstorms to clear up by Saturday.