November goes down as the warmest ever

It appears last month will go down in the weather record book as the warmest November in Iowa history. State climatologist Harry Hillaker says it’ll still be a few weeks before it’s official, but right now it looks as though there’s never been a warmer 11th month in the Hawkeye State.The statewide average temperature for the month was 44-point-5 degrees, about seven degrees above normal and a fraction of a degree warmer than any other November on record. The previous warmest November in Iowa was in 1913. Hillaker says many individual Iowa cities set new records for the warmth last month, with several in the 80s.Atlantic, Shenandoah and Sidney all hit 83 on November 13th. Looking ahead, Hillaker says temperatures should be slightly above normal for the first half of December, but he foresees colder weather setting in later in the month. He says there’s a likelihood there’ll be a white Christmas.Last month also goes down as one of the least snowy Novembers in Iowa — in fact, it was the least snowy November since 1982.