The month of December continued a trend of cooler-than-normal weather overall in Iowa for the latter part of 2013.

Most locations were in the range of 3.5 to 7.5 degrees below normal. The table with this article shows preliminary monthly average temperatures for the crop dist­ricts of Iowa, along with the departure from normal.

The coldest low temperatures for the month were 20 degrees below zero or lower at some locations.

Total precipitation was near to below normal in most of Iowa during December; however, there were areas that did report above normal snowfall. Often, snowfall during Decem­ber occurred with fairly cold temperatures...