National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Key Points:

  • Breaking from the recent trend, December saw near to slightly below normal temperatures.  Even through temperatures were frequently cool enough for snow, monthly precipitation was well below normal.  This led to much below normal snowfall.  A snow event on December 4th brought heavy snow to northern Illinois, with some accumulation as far south as a Springfield to Champaign line.  A weak storm system on December 12 brought minor accumulations of 1-2" to eastern Illinois.  Beyond these two events, little to no snow fell for the remainder of the month.  Freezing rain brought slick travel to the area on the weekend of Dec. 17th.

 

December Climate Statistics:

 

Precipitation, Snowfall and Temperature Maps
 

 

 

  

 


Climate Data

The table below summarizes December precipitation, snowfall, and temperature, and departure from normal for selected cities across central and southeast Illinois. 

Location Precipitation vs.
Normal
Snowfall

vs. Normal

Average 
Temp.
vs.
Normal
Charleston 1.30" -1.85" 1.6" -1.0" 31.5 -0.6
Danville 2.14" -0.69" 0.2" -5.0" 30.1 -0.7
Decatur 1.06" -1.72" 0.6" -4.3" 29.3 -1.9
Effingham 1.22" NA T NA 30.2 NA
Flora 2.01" -1.43" 0 -2.6" 31.5 -1.0
Galesburg 1.19" -1.08" 4.0" -1.9" 25.6 -0.4
Havana 1.08" -1.68" 3.3" -4.6" NA NA
Jacksonville 1.22" -1.52" 2.8" -2.4" 28.7 -1.7
Lincoln 1.36" -1.28" 3.2" -3.0" 28.7 -0.8
Normal 1.21" -1.49" 3.9" -1.2" 27.7 -0.1
Olney 1.03" -2.85" 0 -2.9" 30.9 -1.8
Paris 0.86" -2.17" 0.6" -4.9" 29.3 -0.9
Peoria 1.22" -1.20" 5.5" -1.6" 28.4 -0.2
Springfield 0.91" -1.61" 2.7" -2.9" 30.9 +0.5
Tuscola 1.43" -1.51" 1.6" -3.1" 29.2 -0.2
Urbana 1.35" -1.38" 3.0" -3.6" 28.2 -0.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following links are to 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.

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