Temperatures

NWIARDC - Monmouth. Average high and low air temperatures for the month of January were well below the 30-year average (Table). The average high temperature was 8 degrees below average and the average low temperature was 11 degrees below average. When an arctic vortex brought arctic air to the Midwest, Monmouth set daily high and low air temperature records. The daily low temperature on January 6 (-19) beat the previous low set in 1924 by 5 degrees!

Illinois. According to Dr. Jim Angel, the Illinois State Climatologist, January 2014 was tied with 1970 and 1985 for the 8th coldest January on record, averaging 18.2 degrees. We can surmise that the reason that this January may have seemed so cold was that it was on average 10.7 degrees colder than January 2013 and 13.4 degrees colder than January 2012.

February climate outlook. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center (NOAA-CPC) recently released their temperature and precipitation outlook for February 2014. According to the CPC's meteorologists and physical scientists, Illinois is predicted to have below average temperatures throughout the month of February (Figure).

JANUARY 2014 TEMPERATURE

Precipitation

NWIARDC - Monmouth. Similar to each month since June 2013, January 2014 had below average precipitation (Table). Despite the more than 7 inches of snow in January, total precipitation was 0.52 inches below the 30-year average.

Precipitation outlook. According to NOAA-CPC, average precipitation is predicted for February throughout Northwestern Illinois (Figure). However, above average precipitation is predicted for the rest of the state.

2014 PRECIPITATION (in inches)