Spotty rainfall leaves mark but not likely to help farmers much - Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois & Missouri News, Sports

By MATT HOPF
Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Downtown Quincy saw between one-half and three-quarters an inch of rain early Monday night, but the north end of Quincy only saw a trace of rain.

A half-inch of rain also was reported in Mount Sterling and Rushville, but the spotty rainfall amounts did little to help corn and soybean fields in dire need of moisture.

"I don't think the rain did a lot of good to very many people," Mike Roegge, University of Illinois Extension local food system and small farms educator, said. "It was great where it fell. It just didn't hit a broad enough area to amount to much."

The continued dry weather already has cost yield in the corn crop and continues to threaten bean fields.

"The bean fields still have a little bit of hope," Roegge said. "For some corn fields, rain would help salve what is already there, but they've already lost yield."

WGEM Meteorologist Brian Inman said there was a 20 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms Monday in the area, which has been under a drought.

Thunderstorms that developed knocked down multiple trees and branches in north Quincy. Quincy Mayor John Spring said most of the damage was in the area of Eighth to 12th streets and Spring to Chestnut.

Ameren Illinois reported that 56 customers were without power at approximately 9 p.m. Monday, but all of them had power Tuesday morning.

"There was about a 40 mile-per-hour — maybe 50 mile-per-hour — wind gusts that took down a couple branches and split a little Bradford pear (tree) apart," Inman said.

Temperatures are expected to remain in triple digits for the remainder of the week.

— mhopf@whig.com/221-3391