We ended 2015 with a warmer and wetter December than usual. The National Weather Service reports the average temperature last month was about 10 degrees higher than normal.
In the Quad Cities, the average temperature for December was 38.6 degrees. That's 12 degrees higher than the normal temperature of 26.6 degrees. Dubuque averaged about 34 degrees last month, compared to the 22-degree average.
Northern Illinois and eastern Iowa also received about two more inches of precipitation than normal in December. The Quad Cities averaged 4.2 inches of rain.
But, snowfall totals for last month were far below normal. The Quad Cities received 3.5 inches of snow, about 6 inches below the 9-inch average. Dubuque received over 8 inches of snow, or 3 inches less than normal.
Overall, 2015 was about half-a-degree warmer than normal in the Quad Cities.