It is looking like the southeastern Illinois region will be seeing a wet Christmas instead of a white one this year. The current weather forecast is calling for a pretty good chance of rain in the area for late Sunday night and continuing through Christmas Day, with lingering rain chances into early Tuesday. Mild temperatures are also expected with highs near 60 degrees today and Sunday, and remaining in the 50s through Tuesday, before cooling down later next week.
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor was released this past Thursday. It shows the WFIW/WOKZ listening area in Moderate or Severe Drought conditions. Most of Wayne County is under Severe Drought conditions, and all of Marion, Clay. Richland and Lawrence counties and counties to the north. Franklin, Hamilton and White counties are under Moderate Drought conditions. Forecasters are saying around an inch of rainfall is a possibility in the area by early Tuesday morning.
Long range forecasts through the end of the year continue to show above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation. Somewhat cooler conditions are possible the first few days of 2024, with temperatures expected to be closer to normal.
Here’s the area river stages as of this morning: Little Wabash River east of Fairfield is at 4.31 feet. Flood stage is 17 feet. At Clay City the stage is 4.44 feet. Flood stage is 18 feet. At Carmi the river is at 3.35 feet. Flood stage is 27 feet. The Skillet Fork at Wayne City is at 5.11 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet. The Wabash River at Mt. Carmel is at 2.71 feet. Flood stage is 19 feet. Bonpas Creek at Browns reads 1.54 feet.