One Year Ago

One year ago today many portions of Rockford were hit hard by torrential downpours and problematic flooding. The airport received less than three quarters of an inch of rain, but take a short drive to the east and you run into folks in Cherry Valley who reported 7.5" of rain. It is pretty odd to see such a narrow swatch of heavy rain like that. The flooding we ran into this year was much more widespread across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

The graphic to the left shows our rain statistics on Labor Day over the past century. You can see over half the time we stay bone dry, while two-thirds of the time we receive a trace of rain or less. Last year's rain event was definitely atypical, especially when our monthly rainfall totals start to decline this time of year.

For Labor Day 2007, we will be adding to the completely dry percentage! I think I am going to play a round of golf in the sunshine and grill up some cheddar brats for dinner. What are you going to do to celebrate Labor Day? Hopefully it involves some relaxing since this is meant to be a day away from work! -ADAM