Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Heavy Rainfall Follows Beautiful Tuesday Afternoon

Following a beautiful Tuesday afternoon, the weather turns a little more active Wednesday through Friday.  High pressure slides to the southeast late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, allowing a warm front to inch closer to the Great Lakes.

Thunderstorms - some severe - have developed over the western Plains and will remain well west during the overnight Tuesday.  By Wednesday morning, a complex of thunderstorms is expected to develop and move into eastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois shortly after sunrise.  These storms are not expected to be severe, but could have a little more steady rainfall with them.  An abundance of cloud cover will likely hold temperatures just below 80 degrees, but dew point temperatures will be on the rise reaching the mid 60's by Wednesday evening.  The rise in dew point signals an increase in moisture in the atmosphere and this could lead to the potential for heavy rainfall through the end of the week.

Right now it looks like there are two potential periods for heavy rain.  The first arriving Wednesday evening/night and the second late Thursday through Friday morning.  Rainfall amounts anywhere from one to three inches of rain will be possible over a three day span.  Highest rain totals may be centered more over west-central Illinois, southeast Iowa and northern Missouri. 

Because of the strong winds that will be taking place a few thousand feet above the surface of the earth, thunderstorms late Wednesday do have the potential to produce gusty winds with them.  This threat would likely be during the afternoon Wednesday and Wednesday night.  Stronger thunderstorms are also possible Thursday - right now mostly for our southern counties of Whiteside, Lee and DeKalb. 

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