While spring rains have largely eliminated drought conditions across most of Illinois, meteorologists are monitoring the potential for a shift toward an active summer weather pattern.

Ed Shimon with the National Weather Service in Lincoln says a 45-day stretch through April brought eight to 12 inches of rainfall to central Illinois, effectively wiping out the region's moisture deficit. 

The primary concern for the upcoming season is the potential development of a "flash drought." Shimon explains that the combination of intense summer heat and high winds can rapidly accelerate evaporation, sucking the moisture directly out of the topsoil and creating a sudden deficit.

According to Shimon, a broad below-normal precipitation outlook stretching from Texas through South Dakota this summer could limit the frequency of organized storm tracks moving through the Midwest, which means central Illinois may have to rely on scattered, localized afternoon thunderstorms to maintain soil moisture during the peak agricultural growing periods of July and August.

It has also been one of the warmest 12-month stretches on record in Illinois.