A Mild December Followed by a Colder January

Chicago

The weather for first half of December 2021 in the Chicago area was more spring-like than feeling like the start of winter.  Not one, but two severe weather events occurred in the first two weeks of the month.  The first one was December 10th - 11th as a robust system made its way across the heartland of the U.S.  And while the worst of the severe weather was mainly focused in the Mississippi and Tennesssee River Valleys, damaging winds occurred just south and east of Chicago.  However, an EF-0 tornado tracked through southern Lake county just over the state line into Indiana.  December tornadoes in Illinois are exceedingly rare (occurring once out of every 20 years) with this being the first December tornado in the Chicago area since December 4th, 1973.

Another potent system then moved through December 15th – 16th and produced non-thunderstorm (but damaging) wind gusts in excess of 60 mph through northern Illinois (highest reported gust at O’Hare was 66 mph).  Also, there was record warmth to go along with the windy conditions as high temperatures reached 66 degrees both Dec 15th and 16th.  This broke the record for each day, which were previously 64 and 60 degrees in 1971 and 1984 respectively.

Finally, by the third week of December, it began feeling more like early winter, but snow still lacked.  In fact, it would take until December 28th for the first widespread snowfall as 2 - 3" accumulated across northern Illinois.  This ended up being the latest first measurable snowfall of the season for the City of Chicago.  For other areas, this was a month later than average for the first accumulating snowfall event.

Then, just a few days later as we rang in 2022, another system produced widespread snowfall.  This one resulted in 4.1" of snow at O'Hare with higher amounts recorded around the immediate area.  This ended up being the snowiest New Year's Day in Chicago since 1985.

The next few weeks offered up and down temperatures with no real snow other than some flurries here and there.  Then, between January 22nd-24th, two "clipper-type" systems produced a total of around 6" of snow across the Chicago area.  This was followed by an intense band of lake effect snow early on January 28th.  There were some sharp "cut-offs" with the band as it produced just over a half inch of snow at O'Hare, but there were localized amounts over 8 inches north and west of downtown Chicago.

Temperatures in northern IL were above normal in December with an average high of 45.8 degrees compared to the normal high of 36.6 for the month.  The average low was 30.2 degrees compared to the normal of 24.4° (all measured at O’ Hare).  Meanwhile, precipitation for December was 2.30” which was slightly above the average of 2.11” for the month.  However, most of this fell in the form of rain, with well below average snowfall for the month (1.9” reported compared to the normal 7.6”). 

As for January, temperatures were actually below normal as the average high was 28.6 degrees compared to the normal of 31.6°F.  The average low was 12.6 degrees compared to the normal of 18.8°F.  While the monthly precip was 0.84” (below the normal of 1.99"), the measured snowfall trended well above average with 13.9” reported at O’ Hare compared to the normal of 11.3”.

Indy

Like northern Illinois, central Indiana had it's own round of severe weather on December 10th - 11th.  The same system produced damaging wind gusts that resulted in some downed trees and powerlines across the Indianapolis area.  This was followed by 50+ mph wind gusts the next day lending to additional tree damage and outages. December was also quite warm across the region as well.  While there were several 60 degree days during the first half of the month, December 10th warmed into the low 60s, then a new record high temperature of 66 degrees was set the following day on December 11th.

In summary, temperatures were well above average for the month with an average high of 51.6 degrees.  This was 11.2 degrees above the normal high of 40.4°.  Meanwhile, the average low was 32.5 degrees compared to the normal of 26.2°. As for December precipitation, it was above average with 4.23”, compared to the normal of 2.92”.  However, this fell mostly as rain thanks again to the unseasonable warmth.  Typically, December sees 6.4" of snow on average. This year, only a trace was recorded for the month.

Colder weather finally arrived for the month of January as temperatures were actually slightly below average for the month.  The average high was 28 degrees compared to the normal of 31.6°F.  The average low was 12.6 degrees 6.2 degrees below the normal of 18.8°F.  Meanwhile, precipitation for January was below the average of 3.12" with only 1.13” of precipitation recorded for the month.  Subsequently, snowfall remained well below average with only scattered minor events during the month, adding up to 1.2” compared to a normal/average of 8.8”.  However, as we flipped the calendar to February, there was a significant snowfall on the 3rd that added up to 6 - 10" across the area.  We'll have more details on that storm in our March newsletter.

Ohio

The theme was the same in Ohio for the first half of December.  Unseasonably warm weather was the rule more than not, with a bout of severe weather December 10-11th.  This system produced damaging wind gusts over 50 mph across much of the state and an EF-1 tornado northwest of Columbus in Hardin county.  The rest of the month did have a few brief shots of cold air, but nothing that was sustained.  The above normal temperatures resulted in very minimal snowfall across the state for December.  Here is a breakdown for the month.

	Dec 2021 Average High	Dec 2021 Average Low	Total Precipitation	Total Snowfall
Cincinnati	54.3° (normal 43.3°)	34.7° (normal 27.9°)	3.45"	0.5" (normal 4.1")
Dayton	51.3° (normal 41.5°)	33.3° (normal 27.1°)	4.49"	0.3" (normal 4.8")
Columbus	50.5° (normal 41.5°)	33.1° (normal 27.4°)	2.03"	3.2" (normal 8.3")

 

There were also some record highs that were broken across the state, especially a few days after Christmas, as temperatures reached the mid to upper 60s.  Rather impressive for the last week of the year.

January 2022 turned more wintry across the Buckeye state as cold air became more established across the Ohio Valley.  Temperatures were actually below normal for the official reporting sites, but this did not equate to an increase in significant storms.  As a result, overall snowfall was below normal for January.  As far as notable events, a fast moving system produced up to a half inch of snow along and south of I-71 on January 6th.  But, the most impactful event occurred January 16th - 17th as a widespread 1 - 3" of snow fell across the state, but there were higher amounts around the Columbus area.  Outside of that, there were just flurries and scattered snow showers from time to time for the rest of January, which only led to minor/localized accumulations.  Here is the climatological breakdown for January.

	Jan 2022 Average High	Jan 2022 Average Low	Total Precipitation	Total Snowfall
Cincinnati	36.6° (normal 39.6°)	19.7° (normal 23.1°)	2.34"	5.6" (normal 7.7")
Dayton	34.2° (normal 37.1°)	16.6° (normal 21.8°)	2.03"	3.2" (normal 8.3")
Columbus	33.5° (normal 37.1°)	17.2° (normal 22°)	2.61"	6.3" (normal 9.5")