Mid-December Record Warmth Recap

(12:00PM - 12/18/21) A brief recap of the Wed-Thur, Dec 15-16th record warm temperatures that affected the state and region.

Recap Summary...
The combination of a trough and strengthening storm system moving from the Western US into the Plains/Midwest/Canada, and a ridge in place across the Southeastern US, brought a brief shot of highly anomalous and record warm temperatures to the state and region on Wednesday into Thursday.

Event Recap...
​Wednesday - Thursday, Dec 15-16th...
​High temperatures across the state on Wednesday (Dec 15th) made it well into the 60's across much of the state, with Northwest, Western and Southwest Illinois having topped out in the low to mid 70's. Low temperatures on Wednesday were also mild, ranging from the upper 40's to low 50's across the state. As a cold front swept across the state Wednesday night, temperatures quickly dropped... However, many locations across the state were still in the 60's after midnight. This made for high temperatures into the 60's across much of the state for Thursday (Dec 16th) as well, even though temperatures were much cooler most of the day, after the frontal passage in the early morning hours.

Numerous record high temperatures for the date of Dec 15th and Dec 16th were tied or broken across the state, as well as record high minimum (Low) temperatures having been broken or tied across the state as well for the date of Dec 15th. Additionally, Moline broke their all-time record high temperature for December, and Rockford tied their all-time record high temperature for December.

Below is a list of broken or tied records for select cities across the state during this period.

JP