Rain is Upon a Large Portion of the Area

As of 7:50 p.m., rain is falling heavily here in Antwerp.  According to the radar, the large band of rain that stretches from the Michigan/Ohio border to Memphis, TN, is moving northward and intensifying, just as expected.  Over the next several hours, the rain will continue to increase in areal coverage and intensity, producing rainfall amounts up to a half inch in the next two hours or so.  After this even heavier rain will arrive, causing heavy rainfall amounts.  The arrival of the thunderstorms will only make matters worse, as their downpours will tremendously increase rainfall amounts.  This along with saturated ground from previous rains, could cause some localized urban and small stream flooding, especially in the overnight hours when the rain will be at its heaviest.  As a reminder, tomorrow is expected to have widespread rain and thunderstorms in the morning, followed by scattered light showers in the afternoon, under mostly cloudy skies.  As for temperatures tonight and tomorrow, temperatures currently in the upper 50's (highs only made it to the lower 60's at Fort Wayne, but in areas farther east, such as Defiance and Toledo, temperatures made it into the upper 60's and lower 70's.), will continue to rise due to warm-air advection occurring in the 850 millibar layer of the atmosphere.  As I said in the last blogpost, warm-air advection is part of the reason for the intensification of the rain band and the formation of the thunderstorms overnight.