(OLNEY/NEWTON) As the storms and rain have moved out of our downstate area, the National Weather Service is expecting a shortened dry work week after today’s observance of Memorial Day 2024. A high pressure ridge will build into the mid-Midwest by tomorrow, giving us plenty of sunshine today and mostly each day through Friday, with the exception of a few clouds here and there at times. As that ridge moves off to the east, we’ll return to some rain and storm chances for Saturday and Sunday, next weekend. But until then, stay tuned for weather updates and monitor a NOAA Weather Alert Radio for forecast details.
(NEWTON/OLNEY) With downstate area rainfall amounts ranging from two (2) to as much as four (4) inches on average over the weekend, most of which fell early morning Sunday through last night, the National Weather Service issued eleven weather warnings between 7:00 and 10:00 last night, including four tornado warnings & seven thunderstorm warnings, all of which were for the counties of Richland, Jasper, Clay, Effingham, Wayne, Wabash, and Lawrence. While no injuries have been reported to authorities, there were multiple reports of downed utility poles & power lines, some uprooted trees & many blown down tree limbs, and wind damage to several buildings & homes. Regional winds for last night’s storms were recorded anywhere from 45 to 65 miles-per-hour as the front edge moved through our downstate area. Within the first hour of the storms, there were well over fifty (50) reported power outages in our ten county area of southeastern Illinois, most of which have since been repaired with power restored, although a few spots remain without electricity as of early this morning. Crews and others are continuing to return service to those customers.