Peoria, Ill. (WMBD) — Up until this past weekend, Central Illinois had been experiencing a bit of a dry spell from the end of April through the start of May. Thanks to numerous rounds of showers and thunderstorms last weekend, parts of region saw improvements to what were gradually expanding drought conditions.
In fact, it was so dry in parts of the region that the severe storms led created a dust storm north of I-74 in La Salle, Livingston, Putnam and Marshall Counties.
According to the HRAP Estimated Rainfall most of Central Illinois received anywhere from 1.00″ to 3.50″ of rain with the heaviest rain falling in three distinct bands, one north of I-80, another along I-74 and third across western parts of the region. There were a few areas that missed out on the storms Saturday night and therefore saw less than an inch of rain on Sunday, so many of these areas remain under abnormally dry conditions.
Additional showers and thunderstorms are expected throughout Mother’s Day weekend though storm coverage will be far less compared to what we experienced last weekend. Average rainfall amounts will generally be less than a half inch with localized amounts over an inch possible where thunderstorms develop.
