Dec 19 | Weather Update and Market Review
Temperatures this week were all over the place, but the average temperatures ended 7 to 15 degrees colder than normal across the state. December to date has also been 7 to 14 degrees colder than normal, making it a top 10 coldest start to December on record in most places, including the 6th coldest on record in Bloomington-Normal.
by Trent Ford, State Climatologist
ISWS PRI University of Illinois
Extremely cold air settled in on Sunday night, dropping nighttime lows well below 0, including -14 in Champaign and -11 in Rock Island. In many parts of central Illinois, these temperatures were the lowest for December since 2019. In contrast, a strong low pressure system brought southerly winds into the state mid-week, pushing highs into the 50s and even 60 in Carbondale.
Multiple rounds of storms brought different forms of precipitation this week. Totals ranged from less than a quarter of an inch in parts of southern Illinois to just over 1 inch in pockets of central and northeast Illinois. A very powerful winter storm brought significant snowfall to central and northern Illinois last weekend. Some of the more impressive 2-day snowfall totals included 13 inches in Fisher and 9 inches in Peoria. Season to date snowfall totals are exceptionally high in much of central Illinois this year, including in Springfield where they’ve had over 18 inches of the white stuff so far, which is just about 5 times the average by mid-December. The second storm system that moved through mid-week brought very strong straight-line winds, especially in southern Illinois. There were several reports of downed trees and powerlines, including in Greene and Schuyler Counties. The Illinois Climate Network station in Mason County recorded a max wind gust of 60 mph on Thursday.
The forecast for the week ahead, and really for the rest of the year will be good news to some and less than great news for others. Close to normal temperatures this weekend will give way to much milder weather as a broad ridge establishes over the central US. Strong southerly winds will push high temperatures into the 50s and 60s by mid-week, and some folks in southern Illinois may be celebrating Christmas in 70 degree weather. That’s quite a change from the -14 degrees we experienced last weekend. Obviously, with those temperatures we have virtually no shot at a white Christmas this year. Farther out, the most recent outlooks for January show best chances of wetter than normal weather and near normal temperatures, suggesting that our winter warm-up may be temporary.
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WILLAg.org radio programming for the work week ending December 19, 2025
Commodity Week can be heard in the 2 o’clock hour central time on WILL AM580 or you may subscribe to it using the links in the player below. This week the panelists include Dave Chatterton with Strategic Farm Marketing, Curt Kimmel from AgMarket.net, Greg Johnson of TGM, and Dave Chatterton from Strategic Farm Marketing.
The Closing Market Report airs at 2:06 p.m. central daily on WILL AM580. It, too, is a podcast. Subscribe using the link in the player.