Central Illinois has seen more snow than average this December, with a heavy winter ahead in the coming months.
Daryl Onton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln, said Peoria has seen 16.9 inches of snowfall this month and Bloomington has received 14.4 inches. Those amounts are before snow is expected to increase headed into the new year.
“This is the time of year when snowfall starts to ramp up,” Onton said. “Typically, normal to date is 5.1 inches for Peoria and 2.6 inches for Normal. So, usually we haven’t had much by this time of the year.”
In past comparison, this makes December 2025 a particularly snowy one, but not quite record-breaking, according to Onton.
“For the Peoria area, this winter so far, season to date, ranks No. 2 of all time, and the only snowier one we’ve had so far up to this point is 1977 where we had 24 inches at this point in the year,” he said. “For Bloomington-Normal, it’s the No. 5 ranked season … anything exceeding this was 1977 as well.”
Winter storms in 1977 were some of the most severe in Central Illinois history. In Bloomington-Normal, there were 17.4 inches that December.
Onton said the amount of snowfall has increased in recent years. The amount of snowfall seen in Central Illinois this month is close to what the region should be seeing for the entire season.
“For Peoria, the entire winter season normal snowfall is 26.2 inches, and for Bloomington-Normal it’s 20.1 inches,” he said. “So, you know, we just get another five or 10 inches and we start to compare with a normal season’s worth of snowfall.”
In the last couple Decembers, Onton said snowfall has been quite a bit less than normal.
Still, this winter could have more snow for the region to see. Onton said there’s reason to believe Central Illinois could have a snow-filled winter.
“Just looking at the next couple weeks, we’re not expecting much through the end of the year, but as we go into January and February, the outlooks are for above normal precipitation,” he said. “At least, the odds are shifted towards above normal precipitation for the rest of winter and temperatures are looking like pretty close to normal.”
Onton said Central Illinois will not see a white Christmas this year, with forecasts of a partly sunny holiday and a high near 65 degrees.
