NWS: Sunday morning's storms were a "wind event"

ALTON - The heavy weather events, which pelted the Riverbend with strong winds, were maintained at the level of severe thunderstorms, the National Weather Service (NWS) of St. Louis confirmed Monday morning.

NWS Meteorologist Patrick Walsh said the primary event with the storms was wind, with gusts as high as 72 m.p.h. in Orchard Farm, Missouri, which is across the river from Grafton in St. Charles County. Locally, winds were as high as 71 m.p.h. in Godfrey, 65 in Granite City, and 61 in Bethalto. These gusts caused most of the power line, tree and vehicle damage left in the wake of the storms.

"It was a considerable squall line," Walsh said. "It was mostly a wind event."

With that squall line came a cold front, which broke the ongoing heat wave, which had gripped the Riverbend with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. Monday's high is predicted to be much more seasonal, Walsh said, with highs in the lower 90s or high 80s. Walsh said that heat may return for a day on Wednesday, however.

"Wednesday, we will get another shot of heat," he said. "It may get into the upper 90s, but we should return to seasonable temperatures by the weekend. Another front is coming through Wednesday night into Thursday."

Many people across the area are still coping with power outages from this weekend's weather. Riverbender.com is awaiting a reply from Ameren Illinois regarding the current outages as well as how many people were without power directly following the storm.

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