Rain returns Friday afternoon

 

Our skies have been dry for quite some time for the majority of the Stateline. While we've had some rainfall here and there, the last one-inch rainfall total came back on the 4th of July with a few storms that moved across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. And while there have been some areas that have received rainfall since then, a lot of the precipitation has been hit or miss and not widespread. But that could all change Friday with the arrival of low pressure during the afternoon and evening.

Normally I don't get too excited when our forecast models are showing the potential for a lot of rain when we are in the middle of a dry stretch or several days out. More often than not, the precipitation amounts end up trending downward the closer we get to the rain event. And because of that I'm still not completely confident that the entire area will receive beneficial rainfall, but the odds are a little higher for at least *some of the region to experience the rain.

For the remainder of Wednesday evening, we'll see clear skies and calm conditions. High pressure over the Great Lakes means another cool night with temperatures on either side of 60 degrees Thursday morning. We may, though, see some patchy fog develop during the overnight. Thursday will start off clear, but clouds will slowly increase during the afternoon and evening, leading to mostly cloudy skies Thursday night. Low pressure developing to our northwest during the day Thursday will slide to our south Friday and Friday night, nearing southern Illinois Saturday morning. The track of the low would favor areas to the north of it for receiving heavier rainfall as this is where the stronger forcing resides within the low. But one of the factors that could put a 'wrench' in the higher rainfall potential would be the heaviest rain shifting south towards where the storms would be. If that occurs it would lower our chance for a good widespread soaking rainfall.

Either way, the chance for precipitation area wide does appear to be higher than it has in quite some time. I'm not yet confident in talking about specific rainfall totals as that could change in just a short 48 hours, but the potential is there for beneficial rainfall for some through Friday night.