The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for most of the southern half of Missouri, including Boone County until 1 a.m. Thursday.
Boone County was among the northern tier of 60 Missouri counties included in the watch.
The weather service in a statement issued at 5:58 p.m. Wednesday said intense storms over the Ozarks would push east-northeast during the evening into central Missouri.
The forecast for the Columbia area called for occasional showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 7 p.m. Wednesday with the potential for some of the storms to produce heavy rainfall.