The State Climatologist serves as the authoritative spokesperson on climate science for the State of Illinois and is responsible for monitoring and researching Illinois weather and climate conditions.
Activities of the State Climatologist program include:
- Education and outreach: informing the people of Illinois about long-term climate trends and climate variability; monitoring and responding to current weather and climate conditions, such as drought, heat waves, and heavy rainfall events; providing climate information to state agencies, policymakers, businesses, farmers, and other stakeholders; using social media, media interviews, and presentations to reach Illinoisans effectively
- Research: conducting applied climate research on issues that impact Illinois, such as drought, heat waves, and heavy rainfall events, and reporting the results of this research; working with local, state, and federal agencies to understand and respond to climate-related issues
- Data Management: preserving Illinois climate and weather records that date to the 1800s, and extracting insights from these data
State Climatologist Trent Ford
Hydroclimatologist Trent Ford, a native of Roanoke, Illinois, became the State Climatologist in 2019. He was previously an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Resources at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where he taught courses on weather, climate, and society and hazardous weather and researched heat wave predictability and ways to use soil moisture data to improve drought monitoring. He earned a bachelor’s in geography from Illinois State University before completing his master’s and Ph.D. at Texas A&M University.
Previous Illinois State Climatologists were Jim Angel (1996–2018), Wayne Wendland (1981–1996), and Stan Changnon (1972–1980).
For more information, visit the Illinois State Climatologist website or contact the State Climatologist’s Office at statecli@isws.illinois.edu or 217-333-0729.