Threat of rain persists through Saturday night

A large area of high pressure is situated over the Deep South, creating a ‘ring of fire’ around it. Rich moisture is streaming north from the Gulf of Mexico across the Plains, where it then turns east across the Midwest and interacts with an active stream of small weather systems.Thankfully for us, the main corridor of action is to our south. Heavy, flooding rain is striking Illinois and Indiana this morning as clusters of thunderstorms only slowly drift off to the southeast.Today will not be a perfect day, though. A few scattered showers and thunderstorms may still develop this afternoon as our own small disturbance moves through. Like the last few days, locally heavy rain is possible, but severe weather should be absent.I don’t think the showers and storms will be as widespread as the past two days, but keeping the umbrella handy might not be the worst idea today.A quick note on the lower right corner of the image. A cluster of thunderstorms now located just east of Puerto Rico is forecast to likely become a tropical storm or even hurricane over the coming days. Most models have this system approaching Florida before curving back out into the Atlantic with no impact on our weather. Still, tropical systems can be difficult to predict, so I am watching it closely.For the latest local forecast, conditions, and live radar images visit the FingerLakes1.com Local Weather Center.