15 days and counting since last significant rain

Measurable rain has not fallen in the Chicago area since Aug. 20, and prospects are not good for anything more than scattered showers for the rest of the week. The best chances for rain here are tied to a cold front approaching the city on Wednesday. The front may hang up in the area for a few days, generating some scattered showers and thunderstorms—but a widespread, soaking rainfall does not appear to be in the cards.
Such is not the case in Florida where a low pressure area developing off the southeast Florida coast is likely to bring copious rainfall to the area the next few days. Of greater concern is the possibility that this low pressure system could develop into a tropical depression and move westward into the Gulf of Mexico, bringing more rain to the devastated Gulf Coast. Hurricane Maria, packing top winds of 85 m.p.h., is passing 500 miles to the east of Bermuda, posing a threat only to shipping as it churns north through the Atlantic Ocean.