Dry Stretch Comes to an End

High pressure has kept the Stateline dry for most of the week. Whether you like it or not, the dry stretch of weather that we have become accommodated to over the past few days has come to an end. This morning started off with a line of heavy rain and storms that slowly pushed into the Stateline from the northwest. A few of our viewers actually captured the shelf cloud that was on the leading edge of these storms. The photo to the left was captured by Jason Grey in Dakota, IL. Thanks to Jason and to everyone who sent in a photo this morning.

Now, there was plenty of moisture in the atmosphere as this line materialized earlier this morning which means rain fell heavy at times. Especially over Jo-Daviess and Stephenson counties. That is why these two counties and also Carroll county are under a Flash Flood Watch until 4 PM this afternoon. Because of how slow moving these storms were at the start, these areas have received 2″ to 4″ of rainfall on top of an already saturated terrain.

This area of heavy rain continues to inch toward the southeast. No severe weather is expected, but these storms have had a history of producing very heavy rainfall. Models tend to weaken this activity as it moves through northern and central Illinois, curbing the flash flood potential locally. After taking that into consideration, rain totals will likely remain well under one-inch for most. The exception to that will be areas that got under the slower moving thunderstorms earlier. The rain looks to taper off by 3 p.m. and drier weather should take over for the rest of the day. All of the clouds and rain shower activity this morning into early afternoon will keep our highs in the same ballpark as the past few days. Winds will be out of the south through the day so the humid conditions will continue.

If you have outdoor plans this evening, most of us will see drier conditions until the overnight hours.An isolated evening shower cannot be ruled out. Cloudy to mostly cloudy skies will linger through the night, keeping overnight lows held into the middle 60’s. Scattered thunderstorms redevelop during the hours of before sunset. This means a wet morning commute is possible as we head into the end of our work week. It would definitely be a good idea to have the umbrella ready before you head out there door tomorrow morning. Condition seems to dry out by tomorrow afternoon to partly sunny skies. The humidity will also stick with us as we head into our Friday and also the weekend.