CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The statewide average temperature for December 2011 in Illinois was 35.7 degrees, 5.9 degrees above average. This ranked as the ninth warmest December on record with statewide records going back to 1895, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The highest temperature for the month was 67 degrees at Cairo on December 5. The lowest temperature was 0 degrees at Monmouth on December 10.

The statewide average precipitation for December in Illinois was 3.43 inches, 0.74 inches above average or 127 percent of average. The highest precipitation total for the month was Brookport Dam (along the Ohio River) with 7.70 inches.

Snowfall totals for December were much below average across the state. The highest snowfall total for the month was at Stockton (far northwestern corner of Illinois) with 4.0 inches. Snowfall totals were less than an inch in southeastern Illinois and 1 to 2 inches elsewhere in the state.   By mid-December last winter, much of Illinois had experienced 10 to 25 inches of snow.

The Illinois State Water Survey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a division of the Prairie Research Institute, is the primary agency in Illinois concerned with water and atmospheric resources.