Localized flooding from rainfall Thursday morning; More heavy rain on the way

 

Heavy rain came down Thursday morning with some locations picking up over two inches of rainfall! A brief flash flood warning was issued for southern Lee and DeKalb counties where radar estimated amounts of 3-5 inches occurred. Thankfully, the heaviest rain came to an end mid-morning with only drizzle and light showers continuing near and north of the state line into the afternoon.

A stalled boundary near Highway 20 allowed afternoon temperatures to warm into the low 80s along the I-88 corridor, while the 60s and 70s were found to the north. Drizzle and fog continued in southern Wisconsin but there have been some improvements over the last couple of hours. High pressure to the north will continue to sink down across the northern Great Lakes pushing the stalled boundary further south Thursday night. This will lead to mostly dry skies but could also lead to a little patchy fog through Friday morning. Temperatures will drop on either side of 60 degrees.

Friday morning will be dry, but mostly cloudy. We may see a few peeks of sunshine before clouds take over once again. This will be ahead of a northward advancing warm front that'll lift into northern Illinois late Friday night. Along the front a few showers cannot entirely be ruled out, developing from the west and southwest and moving to the east. These would move in during the late morning and early afternoon hours. By mid-afternoon the rain should be coming to an end with mostly dry skies through late afternoon and perhaps into early evening.

The next round of heavy rain is then expected overnight Friday into Saturday morning where another 1-3 inches area wide could come down. Following some of the recent heavy rainfall the last few days it's possible that localized flooding may occur in some spots. Most of the rain will be wrapping up mid-morning Saturday, but scattered showers with a few isolated thunderstorms can't entirely be ruled out through the afternoon. The coverage of any afternoon thunderstorms will depend on where the warm front ends up, which may be pushed further south with the rain in the morning. This would significantly limit the amount of warmth we would experience during the afternoon, resulting in temperatures staying in the 70s - and possibly 60s.

Another round of heavy rain can be expected once again Saturday evening into Sunday with the cold front moving through. An additional inch of rain will be possible during that time. In all, rainfall totals of 2-5 inches will be possible through the weekend. Rain chances become a little less into next week, but temperatures will be quite a bit cooler for the last few days of summer.