Central Illinois and many other parts of the state have received enough rain to ease drought concerns.

Thankfully, Chris Miller at the National Weather Service indicates the rest of May, after a nice stretch of weather this weekend and into next week, is trending towards average to slightly above average amounts of rain the rest of the way. 

Long-term outlooks are showing it is looking to be abundantly cloudy later in the week next week. Miller says it is still early to say for certain if that will hold but one thing to keep in mind, as the jetstream shifts north and those volatile weather conditions turn into rainstorms, the clouds from those can encompass central Illinois so it is possible those clouds linger over us.

As evidenced last week with the several tornadoes reported in Sangamon and Macon Counties, Miller says this is the time of the year severe weather can pop up at any time and any place. He implores the public to keep an eye to the sky and be aware of the changing weather conditions around us.