Extremes of flooding rain vs. drought to persist over north-central US into August.
While the north-central United States will get a break from storms in some locations and heat in others late this week, the pattern will resume as July ends and August begins.
Part of that heat dome will extend across the northern High Plains and southwestern Canada.
Meanwhile, a flow of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico will resume over the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, as a new crop of storms from northwestern Canada rolls southeastward next week.
Downpours to target areas plagued by relentless rain so far this season So much rain has been falling so often that many streams and rivers are running well above average for the middle of the summer from portions of eastern Minnesota to Wisconsin, Ohio, northern Illinois and northern Michigan.
As of Wednesday, July 26, rainfall in Chicago and Columbus, Ohio, for July has been two times that of normal with 7.65 and 8.16 inches, respectively.
Little rainfall, heat to continue in areas with building drought conditions Areas of saturated soil become more sparse and transition to abnormally dry farther west across Iowa and Minnesota.
Average rainfall for the location from May to the end of July is 6 inches.
The dry soil and intense sunshine have been boosting temperatures to well above average over the northern High Plains this summer.
"It would take a major storm or a series of major storms to break the drought, and we just don’t see that happening that far west through most of August," Pastelok said.