Drier Sunday evening; Heavy rain returns Sunday night

 

The heavy rain that came down late Saturday night and early Sunday morning has come to an end, but not before producing anywhere between 2-8 inches of rainfall. Those higher rainfall totals coming in from in and around the Freeport area, as well as north and west of town in Stephenson County. Flash flooding was reported as water covered roads in some locations, as well as spilled over into fields and ditches.

A break from the rain can be expected through most of Sunday evening, but heavy rain producing thunderstorms are likely to return to southern Wisconsin and parts northern Illinois late Sunday night and early Monday morning.

A stationary boundary to the north will slowly begin to move south through the night. As it does, it'll continue to run into an extremely moisture rich atmosphere across the Stateline. Increasing winds in the lowest part of the atmosphere, known as the low level jet, will be the focus for thunderstorms to develop and move along the stationary boundary. We are already beginning to see signs of that taking place across northern and central Iowa. The exact placement of the heaviest axis of rain is still a little uncertain at this point, as it could develop slightly north in Wisconsin. If so, the highest rainfall totals would develop north of the areas that received heavy rainfall last night.

However, it is also likely that a slight development to the south into north-central Illinois may occur with an additional one to two inches of rain possible. 

As a result, a FLOOD WATCH remains in effect for all of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin through Monday morning as any additional rainfall would pose a continued flooding risk.