A cold front pushed through the area last night and will bring a welcome relief from the heat and humidity of the past week. We had six 90 degree days in a row. Strong west-northwest winds will usher in much drier air. Dewpoints — a measure of moisture in the air — are already dropping and conditions today should be much more comfortable. A line of severe storms weakened considerably before they hit here last evening. We did have some wind and rainfall amounting to only 0.15 inch.
A Heat Advisory remains in effect as temperatures topped out at 94° here today with high humidity as well. The heat index — a measure of how hot it feels based on temperature and humidity — reach 113 this afternoon.
Stay Cool!
Official CoCoRaHS Rain Gauge
If you think that the Goose Lake area has been receiving more precipitation than normal this year, you are right! Just how much more? Well, as of this writing our 2009 total precipitation (melted snow and rain) amounts to a whopping 29.24 inches! For comparison, an average yearly amount is around 36 inches. Note that this measured value for the year to date is with the manual CoCoRaHS rain gauge and therefore the amount from the automated gauge on the web page may differ. Automated rain gauges tend to underestimate during a heavy downpour.
Interested in observing rain, hail, and snow from your backyard? Become part of the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) team. We now have 5 active observers in Grundy county and can use more. Find out more about CoCoRaHS and sign up at the CoCoRaHS web site.
Yesterday we topped out at a very muggy 89°. The dewpoint hovered around 80 at one point indicating extremely muggy conditions. Later in the afternoon towering cumulus clouds developed and then two lines of fast moving storms moved through between 6 and 8 PM. Mammatus clouds appeared overhead prior to the arrival of the thunderstorms. Rainfall amounted to 0.59 inch and we experienced a peak gust of 35 mph. Higher gusts were measured between Coal City and Mazon and areas from Rockford to Chicago had torrential rains yesterday of between 3 and 4 inches.
Towering Cumulus
Mammatus Clouds
Mammatus Clouds
Photo courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce
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We topped out at 86° today, the warmest day of the year so far. Things are also drying out nicely, hopefully allowing area farmers to finally get out in the fields after a very wet spring.
Apart from a slight chance of a light shower on Thursday night, it looks like a dry forecast until next week. Warm temperatures and strong winds tomorrow will help dry things out and hopefully we can get to that garden planting that we’ve put off due to soggy conditions. Enjoy the week and the warmer weather.
In case you missed it, we had a light frost early this morning. Frost could be seen on the grass, decks, and rooftops around sunrise this morning. The low temperature was 36°. How could we have frost if the low was only 36? In calm and clear conditions, the air near the ground can be many degrees cooler than the air a few feet above. Air temperatures are generally measured at around a 3 to 5 foot level above the ground. More frost is possible again tonight.
Forecast Rainfall
Another round of heavy rain is possible Friday into early Saturday morning. With the recent rainfall, the soil is already saturated and any additional heavy rain will runoff into area streams. A flash flood watch has been issued for all of northern Illinois.
Showers and thunderstorms are expected overnight and early morning. After the morning activity, a break is expected with partly cloudy skies and warming temperatures. A cold front will then move across the area late Wednesday afternoon and is expected to produce thunderstorms…some potentially severe.
Monitor conditions closely tomorrow for possible severe weather watches and warnings.