DOWNTOWN — Thursday’s storms left Chicagoans drenched during the morning commute … and more are coming.
Storms that started late Wednesday and continued in the morning have dropped .91 inches of rain on O’Hare and 1.28 inches on Midway Airport as of 9:30 a.m., said Matt Friedlein, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Moderate to heavy rain is expected to continue into Thursday afternoon. There will be lighter, “off-and-on” showers in the afternoon, Friedlein said, but the rain could pick up in intensity again in the evening.
The city’s also under a flash flood watch until Friday morning due to the heavy rainfall.
More rain is expected for Friday, Friedlein said. Those showers could stick around throughout the day, but they’re predicted to be most intense in the morning.
This has been a particularly rainy June: O’Hare has gotten more than 5 inches of rain so far, which is 2.5 inches more than usual for this point of the month.
In fact, all of 2018 has been rainier than usual for Chicago. O’Hare Airport has seen about 24 inches of rain this year, which is 8 inches more than usual, and this May was the wettest on record for the airport. But May saw the most rain in the north and western parts of the city, while June has seen showers throughout the city.
“June has spread the wealth, though, and most places have been wet in June,” Friedlein said.