Jul 25 | Market Review and Weather Update

by Trent Ford, State Climatologist
Illinois State Water Survey | Prairie Research Institute
University of Illinois

Another week of hot and humid weather across the state had me October dreaming. Average temperature this week ranged from the mid-70s in northern Illinois to the mid-80s in southern Illinois, between 2 and 6 degrees above normal. Virtually all parts of the state saw multiple days with high temperatures well into the 90s, including 98 degrees in Rock Island and 96 in Mt Vernon. The intense humidity pushed heat index values up to 110 to 115 degrees in some places. That same humidity prevented nighttime low temperatures from dropping much farther than the low 70s pretty much all week. A few places struggled to get below 80 degrees overnight on Wednesday into Thursday. The high humidity has been with us pretty much all summer. In fact, the average dew point temperature this summer so far in Carbondale and Champaign is the highest on record. Carbondale has experienced an average dewpoint temperature of 71 degrees so far this summer, which is 5 degrees above average.

Despite the strong ridge in the southern plains, we were able to get some rain this past week. 7-day totals ranged from around half an inch in the Chicagoland area to over 8 inches in parts of south-central Illinois. The latter was the result of one very intense storm that moved across the I-70 corridor Sunday night into Monday. The storm produced widespread 6 to 8 inch totals in less than 12 hours across much of Fayette County and some surrounding areas, and produced isolated totals exceeding 12 inches around the Brownstown area. The result was significant inundation in surrounding fields, and flooding along the Kaskaskia. The heavy rain adds to the story of what has been an exceptionally wet year in parts of southern Illinois. Metropolis, for example has had nearly 50 inches of rain so far this year, which is very close to their normal for an entire year.

Looking ahead, a cool front is moving through the region on Friday and will drop temperatures by a little. The humidity remains, though and heat index values will continue to push into the 90s to triple digits most afternoons this weekend and early next week. Now for the good news: a real cold front is expected to move through late next week, dropping high temperatures into the low 80s. Parts of northern Illinois may even see some low temperatures dip into the high 50s late next week into next weekend. Until that happens, though, our forecast is humid and stormy with chances of multiple rounds of thunderstorms over the next 5 days or so. 7-day precipitation forecasts show totals ranging from around a quarter of an inch in far southern Illinois to possibly over 2 inches in parts of northwest Illinois.

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WILLAg.org radio programming for the work week ending July 25, 2025

Commodity Week can be heard in the 2 o’clock hour central time on WILL AM580 or you may subscribe to it using the links in the player below. This week the panelists include University of Illinois ag economist Joe Janzen, Curt Kimmel with AgMarket.net, and Greg Johnson of The Andersons.

The Closing Market Report airs at 2:06 p.m. central daily on WILL AM580. It, too, is a podcast. Subscribe using the link in the player.