Slow travel this morning: Rain and fog continue

Copious amounts of moisture have been pulled north this morning leading to anywhere between a half an inch to over an inch and a half of rainfall since the rain started late yesterday evening.  Heavier showers now passing through the Rockford Metro will continue east into Boone county with another band of heavier rain south of Dixon.  There have been a few thunderstorms noted south of Davenport this morning but those will continue east and not have an impact on us in the near term.

Low pressure will continue to develop in response to a strong upper level trough in the southwestern part of the U.S.  That low will lift out of Kansas and into Iowa by later this afternoon.  As it does, it will pull a warm front closer keeping the rain threat going - even though we may get a break from the rain here and there.  Also of note is a dry-slot just to our southwest which may aid in further development of rain and embedded thunderstorms.  While storms, should they develop, are not expected to reach severe limits they could produce small hail especially since they would remain elevated. 

Another issue this morning is the fog.  With all the moisture streaming northward the dew points have become very close to our temperature readings.  Dew points will continue to rise along with the temperature through the afternoon so the fog will likely stick around into tonight and some of it may become locally dense.  Be careful when driving this morning as the heavier rain showers have likely caused ponding on some of the roadways.

Here are a few rainfall totals so far from earlier this morning:
Rockford: 0.50"
Freeport:  1.05"
Rochelle:  1.64"
Dixon (weather watcher 6am): 1.2"