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Good Friday morning! Looking at received rainfall over the past 24 hours, heavy rains have targeted far southern portions of the state where 0.5″-1.5″ fell overnight. The rest of us have only seen light amounts.
Scattered showers and areas of fog should move out by mid-morning areas north of I-70, with dry conditions central and north this afternoon. Showers will continue along the Ohio river. Expect the rain to build back north from this evening through the overnight hours. Saturday will be a rainy day! A lull in the showers possible for parts of the afternoon before we track heavier rains and gusty storms south Saturday evening.
Heavier rains and thunderstorms will build into southern Illinois Saturday evening, and continue through pre-dawn Sunday as a cold front moves across the state.
Watching for gusty storms in southern Illinois, especially areas closer to the Ohio River Saturday evening/night. Damaging wind gusts will be the biggest threat. With the wet ground, even areas where winds are below severe “criteria” can still see uprooted trees due to soggy ground.
Very heavy rains continue to target areas south of I-70, with an additional 2-4″ there between now and Sunday morning. Saturday evening will bring the heaviest rains here. Still expecting decent amounts through central portions of the state, lowest totals north where additional rains should amount to less than a half-inch around Chicago.
Checking out temperatures, today should be several degrees warmer than Thursday with 40s and 50s. Far northwest Illinois may see a touch of freezing rain Saturday morning pending surface temperatures, but low confidence on this risk and it would be for a short duration. Saturday’s highs will be deceiving as they occur after sunset, most of the day will be cool in central/northern parts of the state. Temperatures peak about 10pm Saturday, then drop after midnight into Sunday morning behind the front. That said, highs Sunday should still recover in the 40s and 50s with sunshine building in.
The forecast for early next week looks fantastic. Temperatures are going to remain WELL above normal into late next week! Sunny and mild Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, then our next system arrives by Wednesday through Thursday with some wet weather and the risk of some storms. This will follow-up with a cool-down to end next week.
