Rainfall had been sparse this month with most of the metropolitan area tallying less than one inch of rain through May’s first 25 days. Unfortunately it took a holiday weekend to begin to reverse this dry trend. Booming thunderstorms swept the northern suburbs early Saturday bringing upwards of an inch of rain to portions of that area. More rain fell there Saturday afternoon and evening, while vigorous thunderstorms brought downpours to the South Side and southern suburbs, areas bypassed by the Saturday morning storms. Rain fell heavily in the Joliet area Saturday afternoon bringing flash flooding to many spots. The rain should end here early Sunday and is not expected to return until late Monday allowing many dry hours for holiday activities.
Chicago’s rain paled to the flooding cloudbursts that struck Texas Saturday. Victoria was doused by 4.41″, while 3.29″ soaked Waco.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
