Illinois State Water Survey - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Climate Change in Illinois

Dr. Jim Angel, State Climatologist

Global warming, or more precisely global climate change, has become a major issue in the last few decades. Climate change in Illinois, the nation, and the world has had and will continue to have direct and indirect impacts on Illinois.

What about Illinois? We know the climate in Illinois has changed in the past due to natural forces such as changes in the amount of solar radiation, ocean circulation, and volcanoes. Humans also may impact climate on a local, regional, or global scale, through changes in greenhouse gasses, aerosols (small particles in the air such as dust or sulfates from coal burning), and land use changes (change from prairie to agriculture to cities). Therefore, climate change is the result of complex interactions between natural and human-induced forces and remains a challenge for understanding future climate change.

The Water Survey is dedicated to monitoring and understanding climate change in Illinois. This site provides some insights on climate change in Illinois and how it relates to the U.S. and the world. A more extensive discussion of the past climate and possible scenarios of the future climate of Illinois can be found on the Illinois Water Supply Planning web page.

Illinois

• Annual temperature and precipitation trends
• Seasonal temperature and precipitation trends
• Snowfall trend
• Drought trend
• Tornado frequency trend
• Benchmark climate sites
• Precipitation trends in northeast Illinois
• Ten warmest years on record for Illinois
• Future scenarios of climate change

United States

• Temperature and precipitation trends
• Annual and seasonal temperature trends (maps)

World

• Annual global temperature trend

Illinois State Water Survey Resources

• Global Climate Change: What Will It Mean for Illinois? (a slide show)

Other Resources within Illinois

• Illinois Climate Change Advisory Group
• University of Illinois Department of Atmospheric Sciences

Outside Resources

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• U.S. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
• U.S. Climate Change Science Program
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Global Warming
• U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Global Climate Change
• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Climate and Land Use Change
• U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

These external links do no imply an official endorsement by the Water Survey and may not reflect the views of the Illinois State Water Survey, University of Illinois, or the State of Illinois. See this disclaimer for our full policy on external links.