Weather Update: Ark has been downgraded to "You're gonna need a bigger boat"

ST. LOUIS – Rain is still coming to the Riverbend, the St. Louis Office of the National Weather Service (NWS) assured, but it may not be the monsoon it was predicted to be yesterday.

While Thursday's forecast predicted the possibility of as many as eight inches of rain between Thursday night and Sunday evening, that number is looking a bit much currently. A representative of the NWS told Riverbender.com late Friday morning average rainfall in the St. Louis area has diminished from a predicted four to six inches to three to four inches, which he said was still a “healthy dose of rain.”

Part of the reason why the precipitation numbers have been decreased was a lack of scattered showers Thursday evening into Friday. A stalled cold front coupled with the remnants of Tropical Depression Gordon is still going to cause Friday evening into Saturday afternoon to be marked by waves of widespread rain with a few embedded thunderstorms, but nothing severe.

While the amount of rain has been diminished, flash flood and flood watches have been issued across the area. Thursday afternoon, the NWS in St. Louis predicted Alton would experience minor flooding from Sunday evening until it crests Tuesday night. Current models show the river cresting around 25 feet late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

After the front and tropical depression pass through the area by early Saturday evening, meteorologists predict a few lingering showers playing a role in the weekend weather Saturday night into Sunday, but those will not contain nearly the amount of rain as what is predicted Friday night into Saturday.

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