Wet July in Illinois – Top Ten List

Wow, the heavy rains just keep on coming in July. Last night it was central Illinois (left panel), and the day before that was northern Illinois (right panel). Click to enlarge maps.

It’s no surprise then that Illinois has had abundant rainfall in July as shown in the figure below with total rainfall (left panel) and departures from normal (right panel). Like the children of Lake Wobegon, all of Illinois is above average on rainfall (except for a few small pockets), as denoted by the shades of green and blue in the right panel.

Through yesterday, the statewide average rainfall was 6 inches, which is approximately double the normal rainfall for July thus far. It also puts us at number 8 at number 5 in the top ten list of the wettest Julys on record for Illinois with more rain on the way this week. It would be hard to beat the top two spots with the current NWS forecast, but moving all the way up to #3 is possible.

Top Ten Wettest Julys in Illinois

1. 1958 with 8.10″
2. 1992 with 7.61″
3. 1915 with 6.73″
4. 1993 with 6.61″
5. 2016 with 6.5″ as of 7/25/16
6. 1981 with 6.46″
7. 1969 with 6.31″
8. 1896 with 6.11″
9. 1907 with 5.97″
10. 2008 with 5.91″