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Area lawns, farm fields and gardens are receiving more rain than they've had in the last month on Friday, Sept. 5, according to the National Weather Service.

Showers may still be around for the start of Friday evening high school football games, but clear skies are to return for the weekend.

Mike Ryan, meteorologist at the Wilmington station of the National Weather Service, said the heaviest rain associated with the remnants of hurricane Gustav fell well to the north and east of the Miami Valley. But he said the moisture falling in scattered showers around Dayton since Thursday night also comes from the Gustav storm system.

On Friday morning a cool front centered over eastern Indiana was pushing a system of light rain ahead of it, Ryan said. Scattered showers ahead of the front started falling overnight and will continue in the Dayton area until about mid-morning.

Skies will stay cloudy but the rain should stop temporarily from mid-morning through the early afternoon. Scattered showers will start up again in the afternoon as the cold front slowly moves through, and the showers may continue through about 10 p.m.

Not everywhere in the area will get significant rain, but some areas may get up to three quarters of an inch before Saturday when skies should clear.

The last rain above a trace was a quarter inch that fell on Aug. 24, and the last good soaking was the 1.4 inches that fell on Aug. 5. Rainfall has been scarce since mid-June, and total precipitation for June, July, August and the first few days of September has been about seven inches below normal for the period.

But Ryan said that thanks to an exceptionally wet winter and spring, the area is still six inches above normal in precipitation for the year.

After topping 90 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday, things cooled off a little Thursday when the high was 87. Friday's high will be only about 77, and high temperatures will stay at or below 80 through most of next week.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2395 or jcummings@coxohio.com.