Prairie, Illinois Weather
Prairie, Illinois — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, radar and satellite imagery, soil and crop conditions for Prairie, Randolph County.
Full aviation weather for Prairie is published on the Sparta Community Airport - Hunter Field (KSAR) page, 22 km away. It carries the current METAR decoded into plain language — surface wind, visibility, cloud layers and ceiling, temperature and dewpoint, and altimeter setting — alongside the raw observation as transmitted. 5 airfields within reach of Prairie have their own pages, listed below.
The Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) is shown across its full validity period, with each change group broken out so you can see when conditions are expected to shift. Flight category is derived automatically — VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR — from reported ceiling and visibility, with runway details and field elevation alongside. Observations update roughly hourly and forecasts several times a day.
Other airports near Prairie: Perryville Regional Airport (KPCD) 35 km · Scott AFB/Midamerica Airport (KBLV) 42 km · St Louis Downtown Airport (KCPS) 48 km · Pinckneyville Du Quoin Airport (KPJY) 55 km
Conditions reported at KSAR describe the airfield itself. Weather 22 km away can differ, particularly in terrain or near the coast. For conditions at Prairie specifically, see the current conditions and forecast above.
Soil conditions, frost risk and crop weather for Prairie.
About Prairie, Illinois
Prairie unfolds under a vast, often brilliant sky, a landscape shaped by the patient hand of agriculture. It lies 24.1 miles south of Belleville, IL (from Belleville, IL: bearing 175°T), and is situated 3.8 miles south-east of Red Bud. Rolling fields of corn and soybeans stretch to horizons that seem impossibly distant, their green and gold hues shifting with the sun's arc. The air here carries the dry, sweet scent of ripening grain, punctuated by the hum of distant machinery and the occasional call of a red-tailed hawk circling overhead. Small clusters of homes, their paint weathered by sun and wind, punctuate the open country, each with its own patch of garden and a sturdy barn that stands as a sentinel against the elements. The terrain, a gentle undulation of fertile soil, gives way in places to the darker, richer earth found near the shallow draws and intermittent creeks that vein the land. The story of Prairie is etched in the very soil it cultivates. For generations, this land has sustained families through the cycles of planting and harvest, its economy intrinsically tied to the bounty of the earth. Early settlers, drawn by the promise of fertile ground, established a community built on hard work and shared reliance, their legacy evident in the enduring farmsteads and the quiet strength of its people. While the echoes of the past are palpable, Prairie also looks forward, with its agricultural roots providing a stable foundation for a life lived at a measured pace. The spirit of this place is one of quiet endurance, a testament to the enduring connection between the land and the lives it supports, a rhythm that has played out here for more years than most can easily recall.
Live animated radar for Prairie and surroundings — RainViewer.
NOAA GOES-16 GEOCOLOR — live animated loop updated every 10 minutes. Shows cloud cover, storm systems and weather patterns across the continental US.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East · Public domain · Auto-updates on page reload
| Location | Prairie, Randolph County, Illinois |
| Coordinates | 38.173106°N, 89.943162°W |
| Timezone | Central Time |
| ZIP Code(s) | 62278 |
| Area Code | 217 |
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
About This Prairie, Illinois Weather Page
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for Prairie, Illinois, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Aviation weather — live METAR observations and TAF forecasts — is published separately on the pages for the nearest reporting airports, linked from the aviation section above. Additional sections may include tide predictions, wave height, wave direction and sea-surface temperature, a barometric pressure trend, and a solunar-based fishing forecast with a fishing-conditions rating for coastal localities, and soil temperature, crop weather and live USGS river gauge data for agricultural areas near a monitored waterway. All data updates automatically on every page visit.
Location data for Prairie includes coordinates 38.173106°N, 89.943162°W, situated in Randolph County. ZIP code 62278. Telephone area code: 217. Timezone: Central Time.
Weather data is sourced from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) and the open-source Open-Meteo API. River and stream data is sourced from the USGS National Water Information System. Tide predictions are sourced from NOAA CO-OPS; marine and solunar data are modeled from Open-Meteo and public sunrise/moon calculations and should be treated as a general guide alongside on-the-water conditions. Radar is provided by RainViewer. Satellite imagery is sourced from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East and is public domain.
