Historically dry stretches grow rainfall deficits in Rockford

 It has been a very dry stretch as of late in much of the Stateline, including Rockford. So far in October, the Rockford airport has only recorded a trace amount of rainfall, nearly an inch and a half shy from average through today's date (October 17th). That's good to tie our second driest start to October so far. The last measurable rain came on September 24th.

There were a couple days in late September when we saw measurable rain, on the 22nd and 24th. That adds up to just over 2" of rain in that 3-day stretch. But aside from those two days, the last month and a half has been very dry. Those 2 days are the only instances of measurable rain in Rockford since August 31st. Otherwise, things were dry between the 31st and September 21st and again between September 25th and October 17th (today). Both of those stretches marked 22+ consecutive days with no measurable rainfall.

Having one such stretch of 20+ days is unusual, but TWO in a single year has only occurred 5 times in Rockford's history. 1925, 1942, 1932, 1953, and now 2024. The longest such stretch of dry days in any of those years were 36 days in 1925.

This significant lack of rain has combined with the abnormally warm weather to worsen drought conditions across the Stateline and surrounding areas. Severe drought conditions have expanded to include much of far NW Illinois and SW Wisconsin, while the remainder of the Stateline is now under Moderate drought conditions. A more in depth look at the latest drought monitor: Drought conditions worsen across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin | MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports

Unfortunately, the dry spell looks to last at least through the weekend and our only chance for rain in the near term is along a weak weather system moving in from the West Monday night into Tuesday. I suspect many will not see any rain from this system and those who do likely will receive less than 0.1", not enough to put a dent into the ongoing drought. Patterns may shift a bit toward the final few days of October, with possibly a more active pattern and a few more frequent rain chances.