Wednesday’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Minnesota Twins is scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m. CT, but a volatile weather system could change those plans as severe storms and flooding rains are possible in the St. Louis metro area.
Less than an inch of rain fell Tuesday night through Wednesday morning in St. Louis, but locations just 50 miles west of Missouri’s largest city were inundated with 4-6 inches of rain and more is due to fall Wednesday night into Thursday.
“Thunderstorms producing very heavy rainfall rates are likely this evening. Multiple rounds of heavy thunderstorm rainfall could lead to very high rainfall totals and lead to flash flooding,” reads an alert from the National Weather Service, noting that the St. Louis metro and other parts of east-central Missouri could be hit by flash flooding.
The rain and storms are associated with a storm system that produced an incredibly long, narrow area where 2-6+ inches of rain fell Tuesday evening through Wednesday morning basically from north of Omaha, Nebraska to east-central Missouri.
Take a look below at the HRRR model as it simulates what the radar could look like between 11 a.m. Wednesday and 7 a.m. Thursday. It shows heavy rain and storms Wednesday morning dissipating for a good chunk of the afternoon before more storms explode in central Missouri and race towards St. Louis between 7-10 p.m. If that happens, the Cardinals-Twins game could be in the line of fire.
Another model forecasters are known to use is the NAM 3km and it shows potential for light rain in the St. Louis area around the time of the first pitch but keeps the heaviest storms out the area until about 9 p.m., so again, it could be dicey.
That said, the NAM 3km model is slamming the St. Louis metro with 2-7+ inches of rain Wednesday night through Thursday morning. This is just one model, so take it with a grain of salt. But it represents the heavy rain threat the NWS has warned about.
Thursday’s game is scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m. and because the Twins and Cardinals don’t meet again this season, it’s not impossible that if Wednesday’s game is postponed or suspended that a doubleheader could be played Thursday. We’ll all find out soon enough.
