Illinois March weather was, in a word, normal

After a winter of big snow and extreme cold, March was perfectly normal.

Illinois State climatologist Jim Angel said Tuesday the average temperature around the state was 41 degrees in March. That's a tenth of a degree below the historical average for the month.

That said, there was a wide range of temperatures around the state during March.

Angle noted that the high in Chicago was 67 on March 17. That's 20 degrees warmer than usual. A week later highs were in the 30s.

But there wasn't much snow in March. The only significant snowfall happened in the St. Louis area.

The National Weather Service says the outlook for April calls for above normal precipitation and below normal temperatures.