ST. LOUIS – The “Bomb Cyclone” sweeping across most of Colorado Wednesday will be making its way toward the Riverbend Thursday.

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More commonly seen in the Northeast during a “Nor-Easter” than the Rockies in the middle of March, the Bomb Cyclone is a rapidly-intensifying storm system made of a cold front and low pressure system. It is causing all sorts of weather conditions across the Great Plains and Midwest, including rain, snow, hail and wind. The last of those will be coming into play in a big way Thursday in the Riverbend.

A wind advisory has been issued on Wednesday until 7 p.m., which will include winds from the south at 20 mph with gusts up to 45. Those winds will be accompanied by a band of precipitation currently marching into the area from the middle of Missouri. National Weather Service (NWS) Meteorologist Patrick Walsh said the precipitation Wednesday should be rain with a possible embedded thunderstorm or two – but nothing severe.

Precipitation moves out of the area in the early morning hours of Thursday, and clear to partly cloudy skies may greet people when they awake tomorrow. Despite the sunshine, however, the Bomb Cyclone's wrath will appear as gusts of wind and falling temperatures. A high wind watch has been issued by the NWS for the St. Louis Metro Area Thursday, as winds may gust as high as 60 mph with sustained winds as high as 40.

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Temperatures following the cold front and Bomb Cyclone will be cooler than normal, but not quite cold – especially considering the frigid temperatures March brought with its beginning. Temperatures are expected to dip into the 30s overnight and reach into the 40s and low 50s over the weekend, which is below normal for this time of year.

The next chance of precipitation is a very slight chance on Sunday.

While these winds may steal the show for the latter part of next week, the larger weather story comes in the middle of next week when melting snow from the Upper Mississippi Basin will mix with rains coming from this week's Bomb Cyclone. Flooding is already becoming a problem in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Northern Illinois. Walsh said all that water – and there is a lot of it following a very active winter pattern – will eventually make its way south.

Because of that, Walsh said moderate flooding is likely to strike Grafton next week. Levels in Alton and St. Louis are currently predicted to hover between minor and moderate, but Walsh said the scales could be tipped to moderate by the end of next week as all that water makes its way south.

Riverbender.com will be in touch with the NWS as well as local authorities to keep people up-to-date with possible flooding conditions.

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