The final flurries of this week's crippling 30-hour Indiana lake-snow storm fluttered
to earth late Wednesday after burying sections of Porter and La Porte Counties under as
much as 2 1/2 feet of snow. By sunset Wednesday, Burdick -- 5 miles east of Chesterton --
had taken on the dubious distinction as the storm's hardest hit community, reporting an
accumulation of 29 inches. That's nearly 80 percent of Chicago's average full-season snow
tally. Dr. Craig Clark, meteorology professor at Valparaiso University and widely regarded
as the department's winter weather and lake-snow expert, minces no words. He reported
the storm's nearly 2 feet of snow in Valparaiso made it that community's heaviest
lake-effect snow since December 1981.
Thursday is the season's 12th morning of zero or lower temperatures at O'Hare, which
makes this cold season the most prolific zero-degree producer in 25 years. This comes as the
metro area enters its 31st consecutive day under an inch or more of snow. Warming in
coming days -- a slow process at first -- leads to a 50-degree temperature increase by
Saturday afternoon. The day may produce the first 50-degree high here since late December.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
