Strong thunderstorms moved through Fairfield and surrounding areas late Friday afternoon, dropping significant rainfall and causing some issues with area events. The Fairfield Mules football game start time was delayed for over an hour and a half as a result of storms and lightning in the area.
Unofficial reports indicated areas to the northeast of Fairfield were hit by strong or severe thunderstorms. The National Weather Service placed parts of Edwards County under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning late Friday afternoon. There were reports of high winds in that area, knocking down some power lines and large tree limbs. A check of Wayne-White Counties Electric Cooperative’s outage map indicated a few outages Friday evening northeast of the Carmi area. Yesterday’s storms dropped about an inch of rain in the Fairfield area, with most of that falling in less than 30 minutes.
Quieter weather is expected today and for the weekend, with hot temperatures continuing. A Heat Advisory remains in effect until Sunday evening. A cooldown is expected next week with high temperatures dropping into the 70s and overnight lows falling into the 50s. Extended forecasts do favor a return to above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor Map is showing areas of Abnormally Dry conditions in southern and northern Illinois.
Area river stages as of this morning: the Little Wabash River east of Fairfield is at 4.14 feet. Flood stage is 17 feet. At Clay City the stage is 4.18 feet. Flood stage is 18 feet. At Carmi the stage is 2.27 feet. Flood stage is 27 feet. The Skillet Fork at Wayne City is at 1.57 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet. The Wabash River at Mt. Carmel is at 4.49 feet. Flood stage is 19 feet. Bonpas Creek at Browns is at 1.31 feet. The Ohio River at Old Shawneetown stands at 16.73 feet.