(OLNEY/NEWTON) With last night’s storms dropping one to three inches of rain on average here in our downstate area, an approaching cold front will move across Illinois by later tonight with more rain in the forecast. Then with some dry time in between, we’ll have at least three more rounds of rain as that frontal system stalls out down along the Ohio River Valley, giving us rain chances by Friday afternoon, again by late Saturday, and again on Sunday. Therefore, the National Weather Service has a current Flood Watch in effect for all of our listening area from today all the way through Sunday, as anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of rain are possible for our downstate area. We’ll dry out with sunshine on Monday and through at least midweek, next week. Stay tuned for continued weather updates.
(NEWTON/OLNEY) It was the second day and night of severe weather in our downstate area over the past week yesterday and last evening. With nine (9) tornado warnings and eleven (11) severe thunderstorm warnings issued by the National Weather Service between 5:00 and 10:00 last evening, most all of the counties in our regional listening area were effected. There were several unofficial tornado sitings reported, including those near Salem, Iuka, Kinmundy, Bible Grove, Sailor Springs, Ingraham, Bone Gap, Mt. Carmel, and others not reported. Storm wind damage has been reported along the I-70 corridor, including areas near Altamont, Beecher City, Effingham, Teutopolis, Dieterich, Montrose, Toledo, Casey, Greenup, Martinsville, & Marshall, plus further south near Xenia, Flora, Louisville, Noble, Vincennes, and elsewhere. Wind gusts were reported between 50 and 80 miles-per-hour, plus some hail, flooding, and power outages reported, many of which have been repaired. To this point in time, no injuries to downstate residents have been reported. The National Weather Service will have workers out investigating the downstate area in the days ahead.
(NEWTON) In checking with the National Weather Service early this morning, local NOAA Weather Radio station, KXI-48 in Newton, continues to be off the air due to antenna issues. Officials say the parts have been ordered and a tower crew is on stand-by waiting to fix the problem and get the station back up and operating as soon as possible. It should be noted that we here at WVLN-WSEI-WIKK radios in Olney and Newton are not associated with the KXI-48 station and have nothing to do with its operations and/or repairs. So despite some negative comments directed to WVLN-WSEI-WIKK on social media, KXI-48 in Newton is totally owned and operated by the National Weather Service and totally out of our control.