Widespread rains fell across Illinois this week, leading to a state-wide average of 1.58 inches, which is about double the expected amount for this week in September (table 1). The heaviest amounts were reported in central and southern Illinois with 1-3 inches common. The rains were lighter in the core of the drought region across northern Illinois. Even with the recent rains, this is the 6th driest March 1 to September 21 period since 1900 (table 2).
Table 1. Illinois
9/15/2005 to 9/21/2005
Climate <------Temperature-----> <---------Precipitation--------->
Division Actual Normal Dev Actual Normal Dev Percent
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northwest 65.4 62.0 3.4 0.65 0.82 -0.17 79
Northeast 65.6 62.5 3.1 0.92 0.85 0.07 108
West 67.6 64.5 3.1 1.44 0.87 0.57 166
Central 67.2 64.5 2.7 1.40 0.80 0.60 174
East 66.4 64.4 2.0 1.64 0.67 0.97 245
West-southwest 68.2 65.9 2.4 1.92 0.75 1.17 256
East-southeast 69.2 66.3 2.9 1.66 0.65 1.01 254
Southwest 69.5 67.0 2.5 2.95 0.82 2.13 358
Southeast 69.6 67.5 2.2 2.02 0.77 1.25 261
State 67.6 64.8 2.7 1.58 0.78 0.80 204
Dev means Deviation From Normal, Percent means Percent of Normal
A map of climate divisions can be found at http://www.sws.uiuc.edu/atmos/statecli/images/ilcldi1.gif
Table 2. Illinois State-Wide Precipitation Ranking - 3/1/2005 to 9/21/2005
End |<------- Precipitation ------->|<----- Temperature ---->|
Rank Year Actual Deviation Percent Actual Deviation
1 1930 14.79 -10.26 59 65.2 1.8
2 1988 14.88 -10.17 59 65.0 1.5
3 1936 15.45 -9.60 62 67.3 3.8
4 1901 16.31 -8.74 65 64.2 0.7
5 1914 17.56 -7.49 70 65.1 1.7
6 2005* 17.86 -7.19 71 64.6 1.2
7 1940 18.08 -6.97 72 63.1 -0.4
8 1971 18.17 -6.88 73 63.0 -0.5
9 1906 19.73 -5.32 79 63.2 -0.2
10 1976 19.89 -5.16 79 63.5 0.0
