Extreme Fire Weather Concerns; Severe Thunderstorms from the Plains to Mississippi Valley

Extremely critical fire weather concerns for portions of the southern High Plans as strong wind and very dry conditions could result in rapid spread of any fires. Meanwhile, severe thunderstorms are expected once again across areas of the Central and Southern Plains, then spreading in the Mississippi Valley regions on Monday. Damaging winds, very large hail and strong tornadoes are possible. Read More >

December Precipitation Highlights:

Precipitation during December 2020 was 1 to 2 inches below normal across central and southeast IL, except Galesburg was close to normal with 2.25 inches. Jacksonville only had 0.81 inches and Springfield and Lincoln had just over 1 inch of precipitation. The IL Drought Condition Map shown below on Dec 31, 2020 shows a lingering drought in the heart of IL. Much of the precipitation fell Dec 11-12th, Dec 23rd and during the last few days of the month.
Snowfall amounts in December were generally 3 to 6 inches below normal over central and southeast IL. Springfield only had a trace of snow in December, tying with 6 years for 2nd least snowfall in December. No snow fell in Dec 1889 at Springfield. Lincoln had 0.6 inches of snow in December, tying for 7th least snowiest Dec. Lincoln had no snow in Dec 1979. A major winter storm affected central and northern IL on New Years Eve night into New Years day with between a quarter and half inch of ice along and west of I-55, with tree damage and power outages common.

December Temperature Highlights:

Temperatures in December 2020 were 2 to 4 degrees warmer than normal with Urbana being 4.2 degrees above normal. Bitter cold temperatures finally arrived to central IL Christmas Eve and Christmas day with highs in the low to mid 20s and lows in the single digits and wind chills as cold as 5 to 15 below zero those two mornings. These readings were 10 to 15 degrees below normal. Meanwhile a mild short stretch of weather occur Dec 9-10th with highs in the upper 50s to mid 60s, and the mild weather lingered into Dec 11th from I-72 south. Temperatures during this time were 10 to 20 degrees above normal.

IL Drought Conditions on December 31, 2020

December 2020 Climate Statistics:

City	Precipitation	Departure from Normal	Snow	Departure from Normal	Average Temperature	Departure from Normal
Charleston	N/A	N/A	1.1"	-1.5"	N/A	N/A
Danville	1.71"	-1.12	1.0"	-4.2"	33.4	+2.6
Decatur	1.27"	-1.51"	N/A	N/A	33.3	+2.1
Effingham	1.32"	-1.82"	1.5"	N/A	N/A	N/A
Flora	1.76"	-1.68"	T	N/A	35.8	+3.3
Galesburg	2.25"	-0.02"	2.2"	-3.7"	29.2	+3.2
Jacksonville	0.81"	-1.69"	0	-5.2"	33.3	+3.4
Lincoln	1.03"	-1.61"	0.6"	-5.6"	32.9	+3.4
Normal	1.36"	-1.34"	0.5"	-4.6"	31.1	+3.3
Olney	2.52"	-1.36"	1.0"	-1.9"	35.3	+2.6
Paris	1.92"	-1.11"	0.8"	-4.7"	32.6	+2.4
Peoria	1.27"	-1.15"	1.0"	-6.1"	32.3	+3.7
Springfield	1.05"	-1.47"	T	-5.6"	33.6	+3.2
Tuscola	1.27"	-1.67"	0.2"	-4.5"	33.0	+3.6
Urbana	1.43"	-1.30"	1.3"	-5.3"	33.1	+4.2

The following links are the monthly climate summaries for area cities. Only the summaries for Peoria, Springfield, and Lincoln are considered "official", meaning they are the station of record for their respective locations. The other summaries are "supplemental", meaning another location in the area is the official climate station for the city.

Peoria -- Peoria International Airport
Springfield -- Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport
Lincoln -- National Weather Service Office
Champaign -- University of Illinois-Willard Airport
Decatur -- Decatur Airport
Lawrenceville -- Lawrenceville-Vincennes International Airport
Mattoon -- Coles County Memorial Airport

Climate data for other cities is available at http://w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=ilx

January Look Ahead:

The January outlook from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center favors above normal temperatures and above normal precipitation for all of central and southeast IL.

ILX RSS Feed

Extreme Fire Weather Concerns; Severe Thunderstorms from the Plains to Mississippi Valley

December Climate Summary