A record rain moves on; Downstate swamped

Downpours Wednesday, the heaviest here since thunderstorms swamped the area with nearly
2 inches of rain Dec. 27, set a record at O'Hare. The 0.83 inches there blew past the
previous Feb. 11 record of 0.70 inches recorded 129 years ago. Other area totals included
1.23 inches at Valparaiso, Ind., 1.08 inches at Romeoville, 0.85 inches at St. Charles and
0.78 inches at Oak Brook. Downstate Illinois bore the brunt of Wednesday's storm. There,
t-storms erupted near Homer in Champaign County producing 60 m.p.h. wind gusts. Rains in
the region were heavy and included 4.11 inches at Hidalgo, 4.00 inches at Effingham and
3.10 inches at Vandalia.
Sunshine's return Thursday and Friday belies the development of a stormier, more wintry
pattern which may dominate the U.S. much of the remainder of February. A series of storms
embedded within a powerful jet stream roaring off the Pacific are likely to traverse the
U.S. at 3- to 4-day intervals. Among them is a system expected to affect Chicago with
potentially accumulating snow Friday night into Saturday. An average of 38 computer
forecasts suggests as much as 6 inches of snow could render bare ground history here by the
weekend. Lake snow showers may linger into Sunday.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune