Missouri Just Broke a 127 Year Heat Record for December
It's no secret that overall it's been a rather mild winter so far. I mention this ironically as a winter storm is incoming this weekend. It is true, however, that Missouri broke a heat record dating back well over a century in December 2021.
I first saw this shared on the Missouri sub-Reddit. It's a graph showing average temperatures during December for Missouri. You'll notice that the average temp for December 2021 was higher than it's been for the past 127 years.
This graph is backed up by the University of Missouri Climate Center. Here's what they said about the December heat wave (*sarcasm*) in Missouri:
The mild Missouri fall weather continued into December with above average daily temperatures occurring for much of the month, Figure 1. Preliminary data indicated an average statewide December temperature of 44.3°F, or 11.3° above the long-term average (1901-2000). It was Missouri's warmest December in the past 127 years (1895-2021) and surpassed the previous record set in 2015
Warmest average temp for Missouri for the past 127 years is big news. Make sure to check out the Missouri Climate Center data for December as there is even more interesting information about how mild this winter has been.
Now, we wait to see if it stays that way.
