Does 70 Degree winter weather in Illinois freak you out?

If these 70 degrees December days in Illinois are scaring you I got bad news, get used to them, according to data the winters in the Land of Lincoln are only getting warmer and warmer.

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Data on the website called axios.com that was published on December 9th, 2021 reveals a warming trend in Illinois' winter temperatures over the past decades. The data revealed...

"Since 1970, the average winter temperature in Illinois' biggest cities has increased between 2.8 (Champaign) and 5.3 (Peoria) degrees. Abnormally warm winter days have also increased by 8 to 17 days."

What that is saying is get used to the idea of December having days in the 70's, the average being up just about 2 or 3 degrees may not feel like much when you compare 33 degrees outside vs 36 degrees outside, but with the "abnormally" warm days doubling in frequency means a higher likelihood of these hot December days.

The website also named out a couple of cities in Illinois, and Quincy was one of them, saying that Quincy's abnormally warm winter days are up to 10 days during the winter period. To see all the data for yourself click here!

I'm not going to preach global climate change at anyone, mainly because I am a radio host and have zero qualifications on climate change, BUT I (like anyone else) can look at the chart on that website and see the data and can have an understanding that the winter temperatures are rising over the last 50 years, and we shouldn't be surprised anymore when we get these nice stretches of December weather. It still feels weird to be jacketless in Illinois in December but this is where we are at.