A snow accumulation as heavy as Thursday’s 9.3” at Midway Airport has occurred in December only once every 9 years. The snow, which fell at 1-2” an hour—as much as 3” in the hour between 5 and 6 p.m.—dropped visibilities under a quarter mile at times and created a nightmarish evening rush hour. Commute times from the Loop to northwest suburban Woodfield—normally about an hour—slowed to 5 hours. Road crews were forced to battle rush hour traffic as they plowed snow and dispensed road chemicals.
Thursday’s storm, by far the heaviest of the season, pushes the Midway Airport seasonal snow total to 13.3”—one of the five heaviest on record since 1928 and the heaviest since the infamous season of 1978-79, the snowiest on record here. That season went on to produce 89.3”. Perhaps ominously, a review of previous seasons with heavy early season snow tallies indicates most went on to huge full season surpluses—averaging 65.9” vs. the normal 42.9”.
-Tom Skilling
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
