December 2015 Midwest Summary

As we turn the calendar to 2016, we look back at what was another very warm month across much of the Midwestern U.S. While there were a few bouts of wintry weather, December 2015 will go down as one of the warmest ever recorded.

Starting with northern Illinois, the month began a bit wintry with a widespread light snowfall on December 2nd.  After that, not much winter weather occurred for the area until an impressive storm moved through December 28th.  This brought with it a mixed bag of snow, sleet, and freezing rain across much of the Midwest.  Amazingly, for areas from Chicago to the Wisconsin border, as much as 2 – 5 inches of mostly sleet accumulated, providing treacherous travel conditions. In fact, winds gusting 30 – 50 mph even caused drifting sleet, which is not an easy feat!

Overall, it was a wet month as well.  O’Hare International in Chicago recorded a total of 4.87 inches of precipitation for the month which is 2.62 inches above normal.  However, the most impressive statistic for the area last month was of course the temperature.  Chicago recorded its 4th warmest December on record, while Rockford recorded its warmest December ever with an average temperature of 37.7 degrees.

Moving over to the Indianapolis area, record warmth was the big story as well.  December 2015 was the 3rd warmest on record.  The average temperature was 42.6 degrees, a whopping 11 degrees above normal.  The highest temperature for the month was 70 on December 12th while the lowest temperature of 21 was recorded on the 19th.  Less than an inch snow was recorded in Indianapolis during the month and that was very early in December.  Northern parts of Indiana had a few other light snowfalls, but that was mainly due to some lake effect events.  It was also a very wet month, as Indianapolis reported over 5 and a half inches of rain making it the 9th wettest December on record.  And, believe it or not, there was severe weather across parts of the state.  Three small tornadoes were even confirmed in Indiana by the National Weather Service on December 23rd as a potent spring – like storm system moved through the Midwest.

 

Our last stop takes us into Ohio.  Not much change here, Cincinnati recorded its 3rd warmest December, while Dayton and Columbus recorded their warmest December ever.  Temperatures at all three locations were an astonishing 11-12 degrees above normal.  There were a few lake effect snow events across northeast Ohio, but the rest of the state was well below normal.  Cincinnati and Columbus only reported a trace of snow for the month, while Dayton received 0.2 inches of snow thanks to a few snow showers on December 2nd.