Everyone is watching this rain system that is moving through the midwest but central Illinois weather officials say most of the severe weather is going to stay south.

On the WHOW Morning Show Thursday, Ed Shimon at the National Weather Service in Lincoln told Regional Radio News this system will only drop around a quarter-of-an-inch of rain in central Illinois.

While severe rain moves through the southern midwest, snow will be moving through the upper midwest, leaving Illinois sandwiched right between the two.

As we look to next week, it's going to warm up in central Illinois. Shimon says it'll be warm enough we could approach record highs for the day. 

The likelihood of the winter months trending above normal for temperatures and precipitation continues to strengthen with each passing day, according to Shimon. We'll have more on the longer-term outlooks next week on Regional Radio News.