CARBONDALE, IL - With temperatures exceeding 100 degrees for days, local residents are grateful for a break in the heat wave that seemed never ending.

David Humphrey, National Weather Service meteorologist at Paducah, told the Southern Illinoisan that highs should be in the upper 80s to lower 80s this week, and lows ranging from the mid-60s to 70.

“I think we’re all ready for a break from the heat,” he added. The NWS heat advisories for the region expired, beginning today.

Humphrey also said there is a chance of showers every day this week, but it will be “scattered precipitation,” and it will take far more than a week of rainfall to overcome the deficit in precipitation that had farmers and home gardeners dismayed as plants dried up.

Though Carbondale received some rain, as of Sunday evening, just .06 inch had been recorded at Southern Illinois Airport between Carbondale and Murphysboro. That compares to four tenths of an inch at Paducah.

However, many of the NWS observers across southern Illinois make their reports at 7 a.m., so those totals could increase considerably today for some communities.

The Southern Illinoisan reports that Alexander County, which had received no rain at all while surrounding counties experienced severe storms over the past week, finally got rain Sunday night. Lightning and wind caused some damage, however. A few trees and a power line were down, but no roads were closed, a sheriff’s dispatcher said. “We had a lot of rain, a good rain,” she added.

In Herrin, lightning was blamed for a fire Sunday at a residence at 412 N. 20th St. Firefighters were called out shortly after 6 p.m., extinguished the fire in about 10 minutes and remained to check for hot spots and clear smoke from the house. There was minor damage to one room, a firefighter said.

Du Quoin had a grass fire early Sunday west of town, and some power lines down, but no damage reported. There also was some hail and “strong straight-line winds,” the fire department reported.

In West Frankfort, firefighters responded to two alarms activated by a power outage, and a grass fire along Interstate 57.

The entire four-state region the Paducah station serves experienced “record-setting heat,” Humphrey said. “The high pressure entrenched itself and caused the prolonged heat.”

Ameren Illinois recorded hundreds of power outages across southern Illinois on its website Sunday, with Perry County having 509 outages at 9:30 p.m., Randolph 400, Jackson 27, Jefferson 78, Massac 17,Williamson eight, Saline seven, Franklin three and Washington just one outage.