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Less than two weeks ago, the region was hit with a foot of snow. This weekend highs in the 70's are expected. What does the weather roller coast bring next? 

The Climate Predication Center forecasts a pretty standard April for St. Louis, with what they call an equal chance for precipitation. Julie Phillipson with the National Weather Service tells KTRS News, that means there is an even chance for more, less, or average amounts of rainfall, but it doesn't rule out severe weather.

"It is Spring an generally during the spring, especially in this part of the country, we do see a rise in thunderstorms climatologically, so we will be seeing those more and more often as we move further into the spring months", says Phillipson.

Rain and storms are expected to move into the area late this weekend and stick around through early next week.

The National Weather Service in St. Louis has issued a winter storm warning for a mixture of freezing rain... sleet... and snow... which is in effect from 9 am Thursday to midnight Thursday. The winter storm watch is no longer in effect.

* Timing... precipitation will overspread the area during late Thursday morning starting around 9am and will become heavy at times the rest of the day and for the drive home from work and then taper off during the evening. The precipitation will tend to be more snow early in the event but is expected to become mixed with or transition to sleet and freezing rain during the day on Thursday before tapering off as freezing drizzle Thursday evening. Precipitation will tend to be more freezing rain south of interstate 70 and more snow north of interstate 70.

* Accumulations... snow and sleet accumulation of 1 to 6 inches, along with up to two tenths of an inch of ice.

* Winds... southeast 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.

* Impacts... heavy snow... sleet and ice accumulations will have significant impacts on travel. ice may cause damage to trees and power lines.

A winter storm warning means that a significant amount of snow, sleet and/or ice is expected or occurring. strong winds are also possible.