Tornado Warning: Live Map, Safety Tips & Real-Time Updates on Today’s Severe Storms

Tornado warning sirens echoed across Missouri on Wednesday evening as a fresh line of severe thunderstorms marched east, producing at least one confirmed tornado and prompting multiple emergency alerts for millions of residents. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a tornado warning for St. Louis County shortly after 6 p.m. local time, urging residents from Chesterfield to Florissant to seek shelter immediately while radar indicated rotation moving at highway speeds toward the metro core. The storm arrived less than 24 hours after a separate tornadic cell tore through the Kansas City region, underscoring an active early-June pattern more typical of peak spring. Earlier in the day, NWS survey teams confirmed that damage in Independence, Missouri, matched an EF-1 tornado with peak winds near 100 mph. The twister snapped power poles, peeled roofs, and scattered debris across several neighborhoods just east of Kansas City. No fatalities were reported, but city officials said at least five people suffered minor injuries from flying glass and falling limbs. In Kansas City itself, a series of fast-moving supercells triggered tornado warnings for Johnson, Miami, and Jackson counties Tuesday night, sending fans at the MLB stadium scrambling for cover and forcing a temporary shutdown of Interstate 435. The warnings were later replaced by a flash-flood advisory as storms dumped more than two inches of rain in less than an hour. Why the sudden spike in tornado warnings? • A potent upper-level trough diving south from the Plains is colliding with Gulf moisture, creating explosive instability across eastern Kansas and central Missouri. • Winds changing direction and speed with height—known as wind shear—are primed to spin storms into rotating supercells. • Warm, late-day surface temperatures in the upper 80s are adding extra fuel for upward motion. What to do when a tornado warning is issued 1. Immediately move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building—preferably a basement or storm shelter. 2. Protect your head and neck with a helmet, pillow, or thick blanket. 3. Keep smartphones charged and enable Wireless Emergency Alerts so you receive updated warnings automatically. 4. After the storm passes, watch for downed power lines and report gas leaks; many injuries occur in the aftermath, not during the tornado itself. Looking ahead Meteorologists warn that the same frontal boundary will stall near the Missouri-Illinois state line overnight, keeping the threat for additional tornado warnings alive from Jefferson City to Springfield through Thursday morning. Residents across the lower Ohio Valley should monitor NOAA Weather Radio and local media for rapid changes. Insurance adjusters and public works crews will begin preliminary damage assessments at first light Thursday, but forecasters caution that more rounds of severe weather could complicate clean-up efforts into the weekend. Stay tuned to updated tornado warnings, check your safe room supplies, and remember: the average lead time for a tornado warning is only 13 minutes—acting quickly saves lives.