Dry stretch comes to an end with storm chances through Friday

Our stretch of dry days came to an end Wednesday evening with some very spotty showers and patches of drizzle. While officially the Rockford airport did not record any measurable rain Wednesday evening, the dry stretch has been present most of this month. The last day we saw measurable rainfall was August 6th when we saw 0.13″ of rain. We’ve only seen 0.14″ all month, which is over 1.56″ short from average.

This is ahead of some potentially heavier rain that looks to move in overnight into early Thursday. Steady rain begins after midnight and lasts into mid-morning Thursday. We then dry out a bit into the afternoon and early evening, leading to pretty good weather for outdoor activities, including the Winnebago County fair.

But that clearing we see may allow for storm energy, or instability, to build up by the later into Thursday evening. If we see substantial clearing and sunshine during the afternoon, that instability may build up a bit more. If we remain under cloud cover much longer, the instability would be much less. Nonetheless, another chance for storms moves in by late evening as better support in the upper levels moves in. This could bring a few stronger storms late into Thursday evening.

As far as the severe weather is concerned, the Storm Prediction Center has placed much of the Stateline under a level 2/5 Slight risk, noting the main concerns will be with damaging winds if storms were to move in. Our biggest question is how much we will recover following the morning activity.

When all is said and done, some spots could see upwards of 0.5-1.0″ of rain, with the bulk of the widespread rain overnight into early Thursday.

All of this will start drying out as we head closer to the weekend. Temperatures for the rest of the Winnebago County fair will be a bit cooler than Wednesday’s high of 85°, with gradually decreasing rain chances day after day.

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