Warm December broke records across Illinois

Posted on January 7, 2020
icicles
The preliminary statewide December average temperature was 35.2 degrees, good for the 18th warmest on record. (Pixabay photo)

By Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – Grilling and golfing aren’t normal holiday traditions for residents across the state, but the spike in temperatures and lack of precipitation late last month made outdoor conditions unusually hospitable.

Weather analysts called December 2019 one of the warmest and driest months that the state has seen.

Areas of Southern Illinois received about half of the precipitation that they would have in a normal December, making it the 50th driest December on record in Illinois.

“Between December 20th and 31st, over 100 daily maximum temperature records were broken across the state including the station in Kane County besting its previous Christmas Day record high temperature by 10 degrees,” State Climatologist Trent Ford said. “The majority of the state remains at precipitation deficits of one-to-two inches over the last thirty days.”

The preliminary statewide December average temperature was 35.2 degrees, good for the 18th warmest on record.

The thirty-day outlook shows more of the same, specifically calling for a warmer, wetter January for Southern Illinois.

Illinois Radio Network can be reached at [email protected]. 

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…