Weather dries out, but swelling rivers still rise

"Water flowing into the Chain is exceeding water flowing out," said Mike Warner,
Executive Director of the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission, speaking
of the increasingly serious flood situation on the Chain O' Lakes in northwest
metropolitan Chicago.
Even though heavy rains spared the immediate Chicago area Thursday and Friday, rain
totaling 3-5 inches swamped the headwaters of the Fox and Des Plaines rivers in
southern Wisconsin, bringing 10-day rain totals there to an overwhelming 10-16
inches. All that water is draining relentlessly south into Illinois. And so, rivers in
northern Illinois continue to rise today even as the sun shines.
In the East, a second day of modestly cooler temperatures further blunts a deadly early
summer heat wave (blamed for at least 30 deaths) that extended earlier this week from
Georgia to New England.
RENEWED RAIN THREAT ON SUNDAY
A new weather disturbance sweeps into the Midwest on Sunday, accompanied by
potentially vigorous thunderstorms. This system, unlike those that produced
unprecedented rains in the preceding two weeks, is moving rapidly and
rainfall-generating moisture available to it is limited.
--By Richard Koeneman, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist