Drought persists after drier than normal month of July

Dry weather is expected to continue throughout the week

The drought is continuing across northern Illinois with little relief expected over the next week after July totaled a lower than normal rainfall.

According to the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, all of McHenry County and much of Lake and Boone counties remain under severe drought. Moderate drought extends across the rest of Illinois’ northern counties and down into the northern portion of DeKalb and Kane counties.

The severe drought is an improvement after extreme drought conditions existed in parts of McHenry and Lake counties earlier in the summer. However, July’s rainfall totals show northern Illinois continues to struggle with below normal precipitation levels.

The National Weather Service Chicago office announced Sunday July’s rainfall totals were more than an inch below normal at both O’Hare International Airport and in Rockford. At O’Hare, rainfall was 1.81 inches below normal. O’Hare is not under drought conditions, but in Rockford, which is under moderate drought, rainfall ran 1.54 inches below normal for July.

Severe thunderstorms early Thursday morning brought heavy rains to the north suburbs. McHenry County had some of the highest rainfall totals from the storms, with Harvard and Woodstock both recording half an inch of rain.

Geneva in Kane County recorded the most rain in the Chicago area by Thursday morning with 0.77 inches of rain. Sycamore in DeKalb County also recorded a high amount of rain, with 0.63 inches of rain.

New drought conditions reflecting last Thursday morning’s rain will be released on Tuesday.

Any significant rain to ease the drought situation does not appear to be coming over the next week, however. Aside from a slight chance of a shower Sunday night or on Monday, meteorologists with the National Weather Service say the week should remain sunny and dry.