The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for several counties in northern and northeast Kansas. The watch is effective until 1 a.m. Wednesday.

12:11 a.m. update

Douglas County remains under a severe thunderstorm watch until 3 a.m. today. At the moment it appears as though the heaviest of the weather will pass by Lawrence to the north with nothing much more than rain falling from local skies.

8:31 p.m. update

The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Douglas County and surrounding counties until 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Other area counties include Franklin, Johnson, Jefferson, Leavenworth, Osage, Shawnee and Wyandotte.

According to the NWS, some thunderstorms could produce hail the size of half dollars and wind gusts of about 60 miles per hour.

4:54 p.m. update

The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for several counties in northeast Kansas. The watch is in effect until 1 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The watch includes these counties:

• Atchison
• Brown
• Cheyenne
• Decatur
• Doniphan
• Jackson
• Jefferson
• Jewell
• Marshall
• Nemaha
• Norton
• Phillips
• Pottawatomie
• Rawlins
• Republic
• Smith
• Washington

According to the NWS’ Storm Prediction Center, the extreme north of Kansas is under a “slight” risk of severe weather.

We’ll post updates here if severe weather develops.