Dear Tom,
We've had a lot of days with snow cover this winter. What is the city's record for the
most consecutive day of snow cover? Have we ever had a totally snow covered March?
-Richard Lurie Chicago
Dear Richard,
Chicago's snowiest winter, the winter of 1978-79 with a record 89.7 inches of snow
also takes the honors for most consecutive days of snow cover. That winter the city
measured at least one inch of snow on the ground for 100 straight days from Nov.
26 through March 5. The season's snow cover peaked at a record depth of
29 inches on Jan. 14, 1979 in the wake of a 21 inch Jan. 11-14 snowfall. As for
March snow cover, the month has opened and closed snow-covered, but has never
sustained a snow cover for the entire 31 days. The city's longest duration March snow
cover was in 1960 when the ground was white from March 1 to 22.
