By: Josh Steiner
After an already excessively wet May, the area continued to see heavy rainfall this week, with many areas from Fort Wayne, Van Wert, Decatur, southern Paulding County and others picking up at least several inches of rain. In fact, at the Fort Wayne International Airport, rainfall totals for the month exceed nine inches, at 9.14” as of May 29th. A widespread 8-12” of rain has fallen across a good portion of northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio since the beginning of the month. Some areas have seen even higher rainfall totals. Over the last week, areas across southeast Allen County, southwest Paulding County, western Van Wert County and Adams County have picked up anywhere from 4-7” of rain. On May 28th, parts of Paulding County saw several inches of rain from heavy thunderstorms, while areas near Huntington, Indiana saw several inches of rain as well.
Because of the rain, many areas across northern Indiana and northwest Ohio are experiencing flooding in river basins and low-lying areas. The Maumee River, St. Mary’s River, the Wabash River and many other areas are experiencing or have been experiencing river flooding for well over a week now. Locally, the Flat Rock Creek has been causing flooding issues in both Payne and Paulding.
Fortunately, we should see a short break in the wet, rainy pattern for the first week or so in June. There will be some chances for rain, but not anything excessive like we have been seeing. However, as the jet stream begins to shift north again by next week, there is the likelihood that rounds of thunderstorms return to the area, bringing back the chance for heavy rainfall. It is not likely that we see any significantly dry period this summer given that there are no current significant drought regions in the United States. With a continued active jet stream, it’s unlikely that we see any significantly dry periods this summer. It is likely that we see near normal to above normal precipitation for the month of June as systems traverse out of the Rocky Mountains and into the Midwest.
