Varying rainfall amounts observed

Rainfall totals were all over the place from the weekend storm system that dumped precipitation across the state on Saturday – ranging from more than four inches to under an inch.

According to Central Illinois Farm Network social media followers, only 0.7 fell in southern Iroquois County while 0.8 was measured south of Gibson City. Up to four inches of rain occurred at Stanford in McLean County and Monticello in Piatt County while 4.8 inches fell near the Logan County airport at Lincoln. Just over 3 inches were in the gauge a mile west of Lexington while 1.9 inches fell west of Mazon.

Mason County totals ranged anywhere from 3.3-5 inches while 3.5 inches fell near El Paso and 1.6 inches in Forrest.

Up until the weekend rains, April had been drier than normal across the state. Southeast and east central Illinois received less than 25 percent of normal precipitation. Some spots in south central Illinois received less than 10 percent of normal April amounts after receiving over 150 percent of normal March precipitation.

“Earlier wet conditions in February and March have tempered any impacts from the dry April and the temporary dry conditions have been beneficial for ag progress across the state,” said State Climatologist Trent Ford in his weekly weather summary issued Friday.

The short term 8-14 day outlook from the Climate Prediction Center shows elevated odds of below-normal temperatures with the highest chances of near normal precipitation over the same time period.