Published on September 2, 2026 8:33 am
Last Updated on September 2, 2026 8:33 am
Illinois just concluded one of the wettest Augusts in recent history.
Preliminary estimates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimate the state averaged 5.7 inches of rain last month, compared to 3.5 inches in a typical year.
“If that number holds, it will be the fifth-wettest August on record statewide and the wettest since 1993,” Climatologist Trent Ford with the Illinois State Water Survey told FarmWeek.
Rain events were most notable in central Illinois. Danville saw its wettest August on record with almost 14 inches of rain, 4 inches more than the previous record. It was the fourth wettest August in Champaign, Bloomington-Normal and Galesburg.
Severe weather picked back up in August bringing storms, tornadoes, straight line winds and derechos.
“August is not usually a real frequent tornado month, but it was this year as every month seemingly is,” Ford said, noting the state has experienced 210 tornados this year so far. “That’s more than the next two states per frequency, Iowa and Indiana, combined. Illinois has also had more tornadoes this year than Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, both Dakotas and Minnesota combined.”
August marked the end of meteorological summer and preliminary estimates indicate the season ended about 4 inches wetter than average statewide, due to high totals in June and August.
“If that number holds, it would be the eighth-wettest summer on record and the wettest since 2015,” Ford said, noting several top five precipitation records for specific towns.
While temperatures varied in August and throughout the summer season, Ford said there weren’t many noteworthy deviations from average.
Although the calendar flipped to September, Illinois residents have yet to feel a shift toward fall weather.
This month started out hot and dry as characteristics of a strong El Nino begin to appear in the Midwest. Models show a big area in the center of the country is expected to be warmer than average this month.
“There’s a bit of a dry signal especially centered on Missouri that bleeds into southern Illinois and runs up the Ohio Valley. That another El Nino signature,” Ford said. “That could kick start harvest in that area.”
Beyond the first couple of weeks of September, models aren’t leaning one way or another for temperature or precipitation.
“This heat that we’re experiencing now is going to weaken a little bit, but we will probably get into a more variable pattern as we get into fall,” Ford said. “It does look like we have a decent chance of getting a little bit more seasonable air in the middle of September and we don’t see a real wet pattern coming, so we should be able to have some decent weather for both harvest and agritourism through much of September.”
Ford also noted tropical storm activity has been mild so far this season, another characteristic of El Nino, so he does not expect harvest to get interrupted by an influx of storms coming up from the Atlantic as it does some years.
