Tag: precipitation

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April Showers Finally Arrive

Temperature

Some much-needed rain arrived in Illinois over the weekend. As the first map below shows, the rains were widespread across the state. The heaviest amounts of two inches or more fell in the area from around St. Louis eastward and another band across northern Illinois.
However, rainfall in some key agriculture areas of the state remains below normal for April (second map). A band through north-central Illinois is running about 1 to 2 inches below normal for the month. Another area of dry conditions can be seen in southern Illinois  in the counties along the Ohio River. This area of dryness is connected to a larger region in southeast MO, western KY, and southern IN.

Precipitation

The statewide average temperature for the first half of April is 54.5 degrees, 5.7 degrees above normal. As noted in earlier posts, despite the warm weather we have had several days with below freezing temperatures. Considering that many plants in the landscape are about 3 to 4 weeks ahead of schedule, the freezing temperatures did cause some damage. In my yard, the list of damage included some hostas, a smoke bush, and the tips of some rose bushes and yews – all cosmetic.

Severe Weather

At least Illinois has avoided the severe weather so far in April. No tornadoes were reported  as of April 16, unlike the states to our west. The tornado count in Illinois for 2012 is 2 for January, 4 for February, and 8 for March.

Seven-day precipitation for Illinois, ending April 16, based on radar data from the NWS.

Precipitation departures from normal for April 2012, based on radar data from NWS.

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Record Setting March

March Temperature

The statewide average temperature for March in Illinois was 54.9 degrees, 13.8 degrees above normal. That makes it the warmest March on record. So here are the ten warmest March’s in the Illinois statewide records that date back to 1895:

  1. 2012: 54.9°F
  2. 1946: 51.6°F
  3. 1910: 50.9°F
  4. 1945: 50.5°F
  5. 1921: 49.1°F
  6. 1938: 48.1°F
  7. 2007: 47.6°F
  8. 1973: 47.5°F
  9. 1907: 47.0°F
  10. 1918: 46.4°F

The warmest temperature report in the state was Chicago O’Hare on March 21 with 87 degrees. The coldest temperature report was Monmouth on March 5 with 5 degrees. 

January-March Temperature

The statewide average temperature for January-March in Illinois was 40.9 degrees, 9.1 degrees above normal. That makes it the warmest January-March on record.  Here you will notice that the 2000s are on the list three times as are the 1990s.

  1. 2012: 40.9°F
  2. 1921: 39.2°F
  3. 1990: 38.7°F
  4. 1946: 38.1°F
  5. 1938: 37.6°F
  6. 1998: 37.3°F
  7. 1992: 36.9°F
  8. 2006: 36.7°F
  9. 2000: 36.7°F
  10. 1973: 35.9°F

March Precipitation

The statewide average precipitation was 2.11 inches, 1.1 inches below normal or 66 percent of normal. The statistics are nothing like the March temperatures, but it did end up being the 31st driest March on record for Illinois. Precipitation was below normal across much of the state. However, there were a few wet spots with Fairview Heights (IL-SC-16) reporting the highest monthly total of 4.88 inches of precipitation. Here are the maps of accumulated precipitation and the departure from normal for March in Illinois.

March 2012 precipitation in Illinois. Click to enlarge.

Precipitation departure from normal for March 2012 in Illinois. Click to enlarge.

March Snow

With all the attention on the record warmth, it’s hard to remember that we did see snow in March. The largest monthly total was reported at Roscoe (IL-WN-2) with 5.6 inches of snow.

March 2012 snowfall in Illinois. Click to enlarge.

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Searching for March Records

If you are interested in daily and monthly weather records, there are a few excellent web sites that can help.

NOAA National Climatic Data Center

The NCDC site http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/records/ allows you to look at daily, monthly, and all-time records for sites in a selected state. Records include temperature (highest high, lowest low, etc.), precipitation, and snowfall. The report for March is especially interesting with 352 broken records and 52 tied records for sites in Illinois as of March 27. See the link to the PDF below:
Report from NCDC on record highs set in March 2012

Weather Underground

The folks at weatherunderground.com has a similar page as the NCDC site with slightly different interface and output at http://www.wunderground.com/climate/extremes.asp.

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January 2012 – Where Is Winter?

Happy Groundhog Day. Regardless of whether the groundhog sees his shadow or not, so far we have seen very little of cold temperatures and snow this winter in Illinois.
For January 2012, the statewide average temperature for Illinois was 31.4 degrees, which is 6.6 degrees above normal and the 13th warmest January on record. The warmest reading for the month was 69 degrees at Belleville and Kaskaskia on January 6 and at Cairo on January 18. The coldest reading for the month was -6 degrees at Elizabeth and Galena on January 12.
The statewide average precipitation for January was 1.87 inches, which is 97 percent of normal. The wettest areas were in eastern Illinois. I had a few trips in the last two weeks and saw a lot of standing water in fields along Interstate 57.  We had a CoCoRaHS station in Henning (Vermilion County) report 4.46 inches. Heavy rains fell in southern Illinois as well. Flora reported a monthly total of 4. 21 inches. Meanwhile, western Illinois was dry. For example, Macomb reported only 0.75 inches of precipitation for the month. See figures below.
The snowfall for January in Illinois was generally below normal south of Interstate 74 with amounts in the range of 1 to 3 inches. Snowfall was above normal north of Interstate 74 with amounts ranging from 3 to 19 inches. The largest monthly snowfall total for the state was New Lenox with 18.9 inches, followed closely by Monee with 17.8 inches. See figures below.
The combination of a warmer than normal December and January was unusual. The average temperature for December/January was 33.4 degrees, making it at the 6th warmest December/January period on record.
The statewide records go back to 1895. The data presented here are preliminary and may change as updates arrive.

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