Rain soaks La Salle County when it needs it most

La Salle County finally received substantial rain Tuesday, halting the advancing drought.

Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford told The Times and NewsTribune in early October between 1.5 and 2 inches of rain would be needed to end the region’s drought after a characteristically dry September. That dryness mixed with unseasonably warm temperatures and high winds created favorable conditions for wildfires, setting off some warnings not to burn throughout the region.

The U.S. Drought Monitor website has Ottawa as part of a large stretch of Central Illinois considered to be in either abnormally dry or part of a moderate drought.

Ford said the region would need a stretch of weeks in a row where it sees about 2.5 inches of rain for the drought to truly end. There was a brief period last week where La Salle County received less than a half inch of rain, but the soil in that period was so dry it sucked up the water and didn’t create any runoff.

La Salle County has received 0.75 inches of rain in October, 30% of the month’s normal rainfall. It’s forecast to receive double that amount of rain on Tuesday alone.

While Tuesdays rain was much-needed, more still will be needed to come. The forecast the rest of the week, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is mostly dry but cool in line with the typical October average.