Warm and Sunny Weather But Continued Flooding Concerns

It feels like we've been dealing with rain the entire week, and unfortunately the start of the weekend was no better.  We've seen isolated showers move through this afternoon, but we'll start to see some heavier showers move in after 7pm.  On top of that, all the moisture is allowing for some dense fog across the Stateline, which will stay with us alongside the showers.


Luckily, these heavier showers won't last that long, as they'll begin to die back down to lighter rain as we get closer to midnight.  After midnight, we'll have a little lingering light rain over the eastern portion of our viewing area, but then everyone will be dry by 3am.  The dense fog will also decrease in density around midnight, but we'll get some patchy fog lingering into the overnight.

On top of all that, we've got windy conditions coming up during the overnight, winds will be between 20-25 mph by around 2am, gusting to as high as 35 mph.  Winds will start slightly dying down once we get into Sunday morning, but will still stay a little breezy during the day between 15-20 mph.  However, even though it'll be a little breezy on Sunday, we'll have a beautiful weather with sunshine and the mid 40's during the afternoon.

Even though the weather is going to get nicer heading through the beginning of next week, many flood areas won't see regular water levels until the end of next week.  Some areas are starting to see receding water levels, but there are a couple areas where water levels are at major flood stage levels, and where water is still rising.

One of these areas is the Pecatonica River out in Freeport, which is at 15.7 feet currently at its major flood level.  It'll continue to rise to around 16.3 feet, before falling back down as we head into the work week, returning to normal water levels by the end of the week.

The other area is the Pecatonica River out in Shirland, which is at its major flood levels, sitting at 15.5 feet.  It'll stall at this level for the rest of the weekend, beginning to fall once we get to Monday.  This area will take the longest to recede, as water levels aren't expected to return to normal until next weekend.

Keep in mind that these river level forecasts are based on current conditions.  The rain that we've got moving through tonight, especially the heavier rain, may delay these areas even further in seeing regular water levels again.  So if you do live out near the Pecatonica, especially over in Freeport and Shirland, do continue to drive cautiously when near the river, and continue to avoid flooded roadways, because we may be seeing high water levels for the next several days.