CHICAGO -- Following Chicago's heaviest one-day rainfall in seven months, get ready for more muddy backyards in May.Rounds of rain added up to 1.31' in the gauge at Chicago Midway on Sunday -- the airport's heaviest one-day rainfall since September 2023. Another round of heavy rain fell early Monday morning, leading to three-day rainfall totals of over 3 inches in parts of northeast Illinois.
49' of rain and also the kick-off of our traditional severe weather season which runs through the middle of summer.Monthly outlooks from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center indicate a typically rainy May in northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana, with odds favoring near-normal rainfall next month. As the climate warms, May rainfall is getting heavier in Chicago. Data from Chicago O'Hare shows May rainfall has increased by 42% in the last 30 years, from an average of just 3.