No shortage of rain

Gary Woodson asked a very interesting question the other day:

"It has rained every day for almost two weeks. Can you find out how much rain the Rockford airport has reported for the last two weeks and when we might have a whole day without rain."

Well Gary, it probably won't be until next week when we'll go completely rain free,  but you are almost correct for the number of days in a row it has rained.  Rockford has recorded a trace of rain or more for the past ten days, and today will likely make eleven.  The highest rainfall amount came on the 19th when over an inch and a half was recorded at the airport.  Adding up all the rain over the past ten days adds up to over four inches!  This puts our monthly rainfall total at 6.20", a good surplus of 2.24" for the month of June!  To put this into perspective, the last time we had rainfall for ten straight days was April 13th-22nd, 2011.  The last ten straight days with any precipitation, including snowfall, was April 8th-19th, 2013.

Now, over the course of the next several days, we will continue to add up the rain as the wet and muggy pattern continues.   Will we see those heavy downpours like we have in the past?  It's possible, but the rain looks more scattered with thunderstorms popping during the heating of the day.  Keep in mind, there have been some locations that have seen more than this and some that have experienced a lot less.  The rainfall over the past week and a half has been anything but uniform, but it sure is keeping the ground saturated.  By the middle of next week, it looks like the pattern will begin to break and we'll dry out as high pressure moves back in.