April in Illinois was much wetter than last year

[May 09, 2013]  CHAMPAIGN -- April this year was the fourth-wettest on record for Illinois with 6.90 inches of rain, according to Jim Angel, Illinois state climatologist at the Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois. That total was 3.13 inches above the long-term average of 3.77 inches for the month.

This April easily exceeded the combined statewide rainfall totals for Illinois in May, June and July of 2012, during the worst of the drought. The total rainfall amounts for those months in 2012 were 2.50 inches, 1.80 inches and 1.48 inches, respectively, which led to a total of only 5.78 inches. That was 1.12 inches less than the amount of rainfall during April alone this year.

A small area of southern Illinois experienced below-average rainfall in April. Otherwise, the rainfall across the rest of the state was much above average. The two largest monthly totals for April were Augusta with 12.28 inches and Naperville with 11.03 inches. Several more stations reported totals in the 10-inch range.

There were two major impacts of the wet April. One was widespread flooding on the Illinois, Wabash and Mississippi rivers and their tributaries. Several sites along the Illinois reported record-high river crests in April. Because the flooding included the Chicago area, the damage in dollars and number of people affected will be quite large.

The second impact of the wet April was the delay in fieldwork. In the April 29 U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service report, only 1 percent of the corn crop was planted, compared with 76 percent last April and a five-year average of 36 percent.

The statewide average temperature in April was 50.1 degrees, which was 2.3 degrees below average.

"The average temperature was not record-setting but reflects the fact that we had a lot of cool, cloudy days in April," Angel said.

[Text from file received from the Illinois State Water Survey]