A GOOD FALL SOAKER!

Rain is falling across my area and it's a beautiful sight! It's been a long time since we've had a good soaking rain. Moisture levels finally went up and precipitable water (measure of moisture in atmosphere) levels were between 1.3 to 1.8 across the Midwest Friday night.

In Marion (just to the north of Cedar Rapids) we picked up an inch of rainfall already as of 10 pm. The Cedar Rapids airport only picked up a quarter of an inch with more rain on the way. That little bit of rain has gotten the monthly total (so far) up to an inch of rain in Cedar Rapids - already surpassing the rainfall we received the entire month of September.

Many areas in the Midwest have very dry Septembers - Cedar Rapids (coming in at just 0.97") had the fifth driest September on record. This wasn't just an issue in September.. it's been dry for a long time which has lead to some big deficits across the area. Here are some of the numbers to show far behind we are in Iowa and Illinois since June.

While the rainfall this week won't completely cure the drought that's ongoing in parts of the Midwest it will certainty help and will be a step in the right direction. One to three inches of rain going to be possible as showers continue into midday Saturday. Here's a look at the total rainfall through the weekend:

A sight for sore eyes! The rain tapers off and it will be sunny and dry on Sunday. There are some differences in the models at this point but the next chance for rain comes Tuesday with another cold front. Here's the projection on the GFS:

This system will pack a bigger punch with some cooler air behind it... something we'll talk about in the next few days.

For now.. if your neighborhood is anything like mine the rain has taken down a wholeee lot of leaves. Have a good weekend!

RK