Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  It was a brown Christmas here in Illinois, as in much of the country, but merry nonetheless.  We are still waiting for our first measureable snowfall here.  The latest first measureable snowfall as noted for our area on the NOAA website was on January 4, 1913.  I am starting to think that this may be a record setting season.  Even though it was a snowless Christmas this year, I have this picture from last Christmas Eve to reflect on. 

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas filled with blessings!

Where's the snow?

I keep reading about the overall lack of snowfall so far this season in tweets and on facebook.  We had just a dusting of snow here on the 5th, but it was gone as soon as the sun came out that next day.
Being a bit of a self proclaimed weather nerd, I started wondering about our area's averages.  NOAA is great resource for all things regarding weather related history.
In the Peoria, IL area, here are some of our averages:

• 1st snow - November 4
• 1st measureable snow - November 21
• 1st inch of snow - December 9
• Monthy average for November - 1.1 inches
• Monthy average for December - 7.1 inches
• Most snowfall in November - 6.8 inches in 1975
• Most snowfall in December - 8.0 inches in 1893 and again in 2000

Being a snow lover, I am hoping for some snow soon.  I always say that if it is going to be cold, there might as well be some snow on the ground.