Might be having a very dry Christmas....

 

       The Chicagoland area hit a record of 283 consecutive days of no snowfall. Total snowfall for the Chicagoland area is still at zero where only a slight trace of snow has been recorded at the Chicago O'Hare Airport. Looking at the December snowfall rankings (1958-Present) for Chicago, this December ranks as the least amount of snowfall for the Chicagoland area. The highest snowfall ever recorded at O'Hare Intl. Airport was in 1978 with 35.3".

      Most of the Midwestern states are seeing precipitation values well below their normal levels. On average the whole Midwest is about 2" below the average precipitation amounts this is including snowfall for the winter season. The above map shows the probability for above or below average precipitation in the U.S.; most of the Great Plains is set to have below average precipitation values through next week. It seems that this December is going to be very similar to last years where Chicago saw 1.7" of snowfall for the month.

John Barmann
Meteorologists

Beginning to look a lot like summer?

 

The first three days of the official meteorological winter saw temperatures way above normal. Yesterday on December 3, temperatures for the Midwest region were in the upper 60s to lower 70s!! Most of the Midwest saw temperatures pass the daily normal by more than 10 degrees.  Rockford, IL had a maximum temperature of 69 degrees at 1:44 PM yesterday; this breaks the record of 65 degrees set back in 1970! Columbia, MO also saw their maximum temperature surpass the record; the high for Columbia was 75 degrees yesterday which breaks the record of 72 degrees set back in 1998. Chicago Ohare airport almost tied their record maximum temperature yesterday by having a maximum temperature at 70 degrees with the record still at 71 degrees from 1970. This has been one of the warmest starts to the winter season in over ten years; with temperatures staying in the upper 60s for three consecutive days. This pattern does not look to hold up long, as some winter time weather will set in next week.


John Barmann
Meteorologist