The similarity between the track of a blizzard-generating system which crippled much of the Midwest in January 1978 and Saturday’s developing storm to Chicago’s east is striking.
It’s among the reasons forecasters are monitoring Saturday’s storm very closely, though today’s storm is to attain a 982 mb (28.99”) central pressure—a fraction of the astounding 959 mb (28.31”) pressure in the ’78 storm. What really set the ’78 system apart from most winter storms was the remarkably large area from Pennsylvania west to Illinois buried beneath 1-3 foot snows whipped in places into 10-15 foot drifts. Chicago’s 12.4” closed O’Hare Airport for only the third time up to that point.
Any westward jog in the path of Saturday’s storm could have major implications for Chicago. At present, flurries Saturday morning are expected to build to snow or snow showers Saturday afternoon and/or night on the storm’s far west side.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
