Investigators with the National Weather Service are working to determine the EF rating of several tornadoes that tore throughout parts of four states, including Missouri last Friday. Speaking Sunday, Gene Hatch with the National Weather Service in Springfield says it can be difficult to determine whether Friday’s storms are a part of a trend of stronger, more unpredictable storms.

Looking ahead to this upcoming week, Hatch says they are monitoring a similar weather pattern in Southcentral and Southwest Missouri that could produce severe weather. “As we do lookout to this coming week, we are looking at, for the potential of record high temperatures across the region for Wednesday. We are expecting a cold front to move through the region, to give us that quick cool down.” The National Weather Service is predicting highs across the region Wednesday in the mid-’70s. That will be short-lived as highs are expected to plunge into the upper ‘50s Thursday. Average highs for mid-December are right around 50.