This weekend’s back-to-back highs in the 70s brought an end to the city’s two-month string of warm summer weekends. Not since Father’s Day weekend have temperatures here failed to reach the 80s on at least one day of the weekend. Though Saturday’s showers shifted south of the city on Sunday, an abundance of cloudiness coupled with northeast winds helped suppress the temperatures. Highs are expected to return to the lower 80s today with increased sunshine and should remain there through most of the upcoming week. Our recent rainy weather will take a brief respite and is not expected to return until late in the week.
Severe weather erupted Sunday afternoon in the lower Ohio Valley as a line of severe thunderstorms swept across areas from southeast Missouri to southern Indiana, downing trees and power lines. Winds were clocked up to 60 m.p.h. at Harrisburg and 70 m.p.h. at Simpson—both in southeast Illinois.

After a hot summer with endless strings of sunny dry days, things seem to be beginning to change. In recent days rain has been falling at more frequent intervals and a persistent cloud cover has been keeping hot weather at bay. A frontal system stalling out downstate should prevent the 90s from making inroads into the area this week and while showers will exit this area this morning, more rain should return by Thursday as the next system approaches.
While droughts that take months to develop usually don’t end quickly, the combination of frequent rainfall and cooler cloudier weather that limits moisture evaporation from the soils will begin to make slow steady inroads into soil moisture replenishment.
The Atlantic remains active with Tropical Storm Irene forecast to gain hurricane strength today before recurving out to sea, making way for the season’s tenth storm Jose expected to be named later today about 1000 miles east of the Lesser Antilles.