by Trent Ford, State Climatologist
ISWS, PRI, University of Illinois
We had quite a busy weather week. Average temperatures range from the low 50s in northern Illinois to the mid-70s in southern Illinois, between 1 and 4 degrees above normal. Nighttime low temperatures regularly dipped into the 40s statewide and even got down to the high 30s in places like Waukegan and McHenry. May average temperatures to date have been within 1 degree of normal statewide.…
Event Date: May 23, 2025
Event Time: 3:00 – 6:00 PM
Location: Riggs Beer Company
1901 South High Cross Rd. Urbana, IL
Join us for a mix of learning and happy hour at Riggs Beer Company located at 1901 South High Cross Rd. Urbana, IL. This event is for anyone curious about small grains, including wheat, barley, rye, triticale, oats, and kernza. Demonstration plots are located on-site next to the brewery. The small grains breeder from Virginia will be joining us as a special guest to talk about barley varieties adapted to Illinois.…
The second full week in May brought summer heat to the Midwest. Average temperatures this week ranged from the high 50s in northern Illinois to the low 70s in southern Illinois, between 2 and 8 degrees above normal. Significant early season heat late in the week was noteworthy, as temperatures reached into the low to mid 90s statewide. Combined with high humidity, heat index values approached the triple digits. Thursday’s high of 93 degrees broke the previous May 15th record at O’Hare Airport,…
The final week of April acted much like the rest of the month, with warm and wet weather pretty much statewide. Average temperatures this week ranged from the low 50s in northern Illinois to the mid-60s in southern Illinois, between 3 and 6 degrees above normal. The entire month of April ended around 0.5 degree warmer than normal statewide.
A continued active storm track brought multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms this week. 7-day totals ranged from around a half inch in parts of western Illinois to over 4 inches near the Metro East area.…
WILLAg.org is home to University of Illinois Extension radio programming produced in cooperation with Illinois Public Media. It includes daily radio programming from the 8:55am Opening Market Report to the Commodity Market Summary at 4:32pm. These all air on WILL AM580 which can be tuned in across much of the states of Illinois and Indiana. The website, willag.org, hosts much of the programming, too. It also includes a combined Illinois Extension farm news feed from the crop scientists,…
We had a bit of a calmer weather week as we settled into April. Average temperatures this week ranged from the high 30s to the mid-50s, between 2 and 5 degrees below normal. April to date has been 1 to 4 degrees cooler than normal as well, following a top 10 warmest March on record statewide. In fact, last month was the warmest March in Illinois since 2012.
We’ve gotten a better picture of the precipitation and flooding across southern Illinois from last week’s storms.…
The transition from March to April brought very active weather in Illinois. Average temperatures this week ranged from the low 40s in northern Illinois to the low 60s in southern Illinois, between 2 and 8 degrees above normal. March ended between 2 and 4 degrees warmer than normal as well, which helped accelerate bloom and leafoutacross the state.
The big story this week, though, was the active storm track that brought multiple rounds – and multiple types – of severe weather across the state.…
Our last full week of March had very March-like weather, with average temperatures ranging from the high 30s in far northern Illinois to the low 50s in far southern Illinois, right around normal for this time of the year. March to date average temperatures have been 3 to 6 degrees warmer than normal; a top 10 warmest March on record so far for much of northern Illinois.
Another round of storms brought modest precipitation totals across the state this week,…
The first week of March and climatological spring was decidedly spring-like. Average temperatures ranged from the mid-30s in northern Illinois to the high 40s in southern Illinois, between 3 and 8 degrees above normal. High temperatures reached into the 60s and 70s early in the week before crashing back to the 30s and 40s. February ended 2 to 4 degrees below normal statewide, wrapping up a climatological winter season that was within 1 degree of normal statewide.…
Here you will find links to the presentations made during the March 4, 2025 All Day Ag Outlook held at the Beef House in Covington, Indiana. It included members of the University of Illinois farmdoc team, on air analysts with WILLAg.org, and others.
click to hear the presentations from the March 4, 2025 conference
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