CHAMPAIGN, IL (AP) -- Illinoisans wore galoshes more often than snow boots in December -- and barely broke out the parkas.

State climatologist Jim Angel says the average statewide temperature in December was 35.7 degrees -- almost 6 degrees above average.

That's the ninth-warmest December since the state began keeping records in 1895. The highest temperature was 67 in Cairo on Dec. 5.

All that warm weather naturally meant less snow -- although rainfall was above average, with 7.70 inches recorded at Brookport Dam.

The biggest snowfall recorded in December was 4 inches in Stockton in far northwestern Illinois. That compares to less than an inch in southeastern Illinois and 1 to 2 inches everywhere else.

Last winter, much of Illinois had gotten 10 to 25 inches of snow by mid-December.