So I have a couple of Hardy Chicago figs that ripened during this week's heatwave. I planned to pick them tonight, but there was a whole lot of rain today and I'm having second thoughts. I think they puffed up a just a little. It's not supposed to rain this weekend. Would it make sense to give them a couple of days to dry out (if that's even possible)? Or will they be more likely to split or sour?

Hi ,
i would wait till they droop (hangmans neck) and with slight twist of forfinger and thumb they come right off . Extra ripe you may seem some cracking to the skin. If you can please post pictures one of my favorite figs.
In my area i only seen them split once and we had 9 inches of rain that weekend at that time all my plants reacted same way .
Here is picture of onne hanging over stem of a leaf .
Here another but a breba.
Notice the dates.

Hey, Martin. I usually look for the drooping neck, but both of these figs are wedged in from above and below, so it's been tougher to tell whether they're ripe. They started ripening a week or more ago, and they both have a fair amount of cracking. They're both soft to the touch.

They're main crop figs. The tree came out of dormancy really early (I think February), so these two got a decent head start under a grow light on my windowsill. You can see that some of the leaves are burned. I put this tree in almost complete shade at the beginning of the season, but the small amount of direct light was still enough of a shock to the tender leaves to cause a lot of damage.

I picked them today. Very tasty. Rich, but not supersweet. My wife thought they had a little bit of a plum flavor. I bought this tree from Edible Landscaping a year ago. These were the first two figs to ripen.

Thanks Matt for posting those pictures and description of taste.
You mention Rich but not supersweet ahhhhhhhh i love it singing thats Amore in my head.

Edible Landscaping Sals now thats a outright sweet fig which i have also.  ; )