Douglas County under tornado watch until 9 p.m.

Large hail, strong winds and tornadic activity possible today

The Lawrence area could be in for some severe weather this evening – including possible tornadoes, says Jennifer Schack, 6News meteorologist.

The National Weather Service has placed Douglas County under a tornado watch through 9 tonight and a wind advisory until midnight.

“We could see a few strong to severe thunderstorms today,” Schack said. “The main threat is large hail and maybe some tornadic activity.”

The National Weather Service says that thunderstorms will develop along a dry line through the evening in central and eastern Kansas. Any of the storms can become severe and produce hail as large as two to four inches in diameter, strong winds from 60 to 80 mph and tornadoes, according to the weather service.

At 6:45 p.m., south Lawrence was getting some light rain, the temperature was 73 degrees, the humidity was 62 percent and winds were from the south at 25 mph, gusting to 38 mph.

This morning’s low temperature was 64 degrees. The average low for this date is 43 degrees. The record low was 21 degrees, set in 1982.

Schack said today’s high will climb to 80 degrees, with winds from the south at 15 to 20 mph. The average high temperature is 65 degrees and the record high was 91, set in 1893.

Dry conditions return tonight, with the low dropping to 48 degrees by early Friday morning, Schack said.

Friday’s afternoon high temperature will climb to 64 degrees, she said. There’s also the chance for isolated thunderstorms, she said. Clouds will become thicker and winds will be from the northeast at 15 to 25 mph.

Saturday’s morning low will be 33 degrees, climbing to a high of 59 degrees on Saturday afternoon, with mostly sunny skies, she said.