Not since the 12” in January 30-31, 2002 has a storm generated more snow here. Truly big snows are actually relatively infrequent here. Of the 2,546 measurable snows since official measurements were first archived by the National Weather Service here in 1885, only 80 have generated 8”+ accumulations--and just 20 of those have produced 12”+ totals. That means a 12” or greater snow occurs on average only once every 6 years. Should the final storm total in the current system reach one foot at O’Hare—an outcome dependent on the amount of lake snow which occurs Saturday—it would become only the fourth time in the past 26 years that a 12” snowfall has occurred here.
Final snow tallies in this storm are likely to reach 9-13”. But, another 2-4” is likely to occur inland Saturday with greater amounts possible in bursts of snowfall off the lake. That could mean totals in excess of 13”occur in the hardest hit areas close to Lake Michigan.
