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A tornado watch has been issued for a good chunk of Missouri, including the entire listening area.

This is the first warning in what is expected to be a day of turbulent weather. Although this first warning does not include communities across the river in Illinois, they are not out of the woods--more warnings and watches could be issued today.

The tornado watch expires at 10PM and a watch means that conditions are favorable for a tornado to develop, but none have been spotted.

Complete List of Included Counties:

Missouri counties included are Audrain Barry Barton Bates Benton Boone Buchanan Caldwell Callaway Camden Carroll Cass Cedar Chariton Christian Clay Clinton Cole Cooper Crawford Dade Dallas Douglas Franklin Gasconade Greene Henry Hickory Howard Jackson Jasper Jefferson Johnson Laclede Lafayette Lawrence Lincoln Linn Livingston Macon Maries Marion Mcdonald Miller Moniteau Monroe Montgomery Morgan Newton Osage Pettis Phelps Pike Platte Polk Pulaski Ralls Randolph Ray Saline Shelby St. Charles St. Clair St. Louis Stone Taney Vernon Warren Washington Webster Wright Missouri independent cities included are St. Louis City.

Counties included in Illinois:

IN SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS

CALHOUN IL GREENE IL JERSEY IL MACOUPIN IL

IN WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS

ADAMS IL BROWN IL PIKE IL

   Just a week after severe storms brought damaging wind and tornadoes to the St. Louis area, the threat of more dangerous weather is in the forecast.  Hazelwood residents continue to clean up after a twister ripped through their community last week. But their mayor is hoping they'll now shift focus from patching roofs to preparing for the next round of storms.  

   Mayor Matthew Robinson says he hopes people heed the warning the next time the tornado sirens sound.  "When they do," he said, "obviously you can see what we went through here in Hazelwood.  People need to take shelter, because you never know.  You never know when that train’s going to be coming.”

  The mayor says if temporary tarps are damaged in this next round of storms, there are materials and supplies and volunteers that’ll come out again and help patch them up again. 

  Meanwhile residents in one storm-battered Hazelwood apartment complex are still trying to recover.  That includes Renee Fletcher, who spent  Tuesday gathering her things from her damaged apartment before they could be ruined by more bad weather.

   Fletcher says some things have already been ruined.  "There is significant molding that’s already taking place in the building," she said.  "So definitely, you want to get your things out, but it’s not safe for you to be in there anyway."

   Fletcher had lived at the Teson Garden Apartments when the tornado struck last week.  All nine buildings in the complex were so badly damaged, they've been condemned. Police say residents have until 6:00 p.m. Wednesday  to collect their belongings.  Then the buildings will be closed up for repairs.  Two of the buildings may need to be torn down. 

 

   Downed power lines mean the lights are out in several parts of the metro area. Ameren opened their Emergency Operations Center just after p.m. Wednesday.  Utility officials say crews will work through the night, but many residents will remain without power until at least Thursday afternoon.  Ameren will bring in additional crews Thursday morning. 

   As of 2:00 a.m, Ameren was reporting more than 30,000 Missouri customers without power - most of them in St. Louis County.  

   About 4,000 metro-east customers also remain in the dark.

   Outages can be reported here.

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for the Metro St. Louis area.

A watch indicates that conditions are favorable for the development of a tornado, but none have been spotted.

The entire statement from the weather service is below:

 

TORNADO WATCH 90 REMAINS VALID UNTIL 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS

IN ILLINOIS THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES

IN SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS

BOND IL CLINTON IL FAYETTE IL MARION IL MONTGOMERY IL WASHINGTON IL

IN SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS

MADISON IL MONROE IL RANDOLPH IL ST. CLAIR IL

IN MISSOURI THIS WATCH INCLUDES 11 COUNTIES

IN EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI

CRAWFORD MO FRANKLIN MO JEFFERSON MO ST. CHARLES MO ST. LOUIS MO WASHINGTON MO

IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

IRON MO MADISON MO REYNOLDS MO ST. FRANCOIS MO STE. GENEVIEVE MO

IN MISSOURI THIS WATCH INCLUDES 1 INDEPENDENT CITY

IN EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI

ST. LOUIS CITY MO

THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF... BELLEVILLE... CHESTER... EDWARDSVILLE... FARMINGTON... LITCHFIELD... SALEM... ST CHARLES... ST LOUIS... UNION AND VANDALIA.

CHICAGO (AP) - The calendar may read March, but a snowstorm has much of the Upper Midwest looking like December.

A snowstorm that moved through parts of the Dakotas and Minnesota yesterday is zeroing in on Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, with the brunt of the storm expected to hit early today.

Up to 10 inches of snow could fall in the Chicago area, which would easily make this storm the area's largest of the season.

This storm could be particularly problematic for commuters. The National Weather Service says it could snow during both the morning and evening rush hours in Chicago. Emergency officials urge those who don't have to drive to keep their cars in the garage in favor of public transportation.