Dry Start to August

As July comes to a conclusion, this will be the second straight month where rainfall has ended up below average. After posting the second wettest May on record here in Rockford, June's rainfall fell short by 1.44" and July looks to end .87" below its normal rainfall. As we observe the days ahead, it looks like the dry pattern will continue into the beginning of August.

That is because a potent ridge of high pressure, as Candice mentioned in a previous post, has formed to our west over the Four Corners region. This ridge has really deepened and strengthened over the last 24 hours and has developed an area of high pressure at the surface over the Upper Great Plains. Typically underneath a high pressure, you have a lot of sinking air (dry air). As we fast forward into tomorrow, this high pressure system will settle over the Great Lakes region and make itself feel right at home the next few days. Another thing about this type of set up, places like Kansas City, Missouri and Topeka, Kansas will see an active pattern which includes a decent amount of rainfall in the days to come. While we here in the Stateline will see lots of sunshine and stay dry.

We do keep a slight chance for a thunderstorm or two once the weekend arrives. But other than that, there are no signs for a significant rainfall event to occur in our region within the next 5-7 days. Since we had a cold front pass through during the day yesterday, temperatures will once again be slow to rise as we progress through the week. As winds change back to a more southerly direction starting on Friday, high temperatures will climb into the upper 80s by the weekend.