Jan. snow down in Illinois but rainfall high

Snow was in short supply across Illinois in January, but the State Water Survey says many areas got relief after a dry 2012 with soaking rain.

State Climatologist Jim Angel said Monday in a news release that statewide average precipitation was 3.9 inches last month. That's almost 2 inches more than average. Some areas in far southeastern Illinois had more than 6 inches of precipitation.

Angel says snowfall was below average across the state. It ranged from 6.5 inches in far northwest Illinois to no snow at all in the far southern tip of the state.

The statewide average temperature for January was 28.7 degrees. That's four degrees warmer than the average. The warmest January on record was in 2006 when the average temperature was just below 38 degrees.