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Top 10 Most And Least Snowiest Seasons


Chicago WX

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I figured I'd whip up a chart of the top 10 most and least snowiest seasons for sites that I had available long standing data for. And for those who will be eventually rooting for a snow futility record for your location, here's the numbers to beat. wink.png

 

 

 



 

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As always, AWESOME job. True eye candy for stats buffs like me. Another thread I will be bookmarking :)

Detroit, Cleveland, and Grand Rapids FTW!!!! All 3 sites have 4 of their 10 snowiest winters in the 2000s (and 0 in the top 10 least snowy). Ive said it many many times recently, these have been special times lately for this region.

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As always, AWESOME job. True eye candy for stats buffs like me. Another thread I will be bookmarking :)

Detroit, Cleveland, and Grand Rapids FTW!!!! All 3 sites have 4 of their 10 snowiest winters in the 2000s (and 0 in the top 10 least snowy). Ive said it many many times recently, these have been special times lately for this region.

How about Green Bay? Their 3rd, 4th and 5th snowiest seasons have all been in the last five years. This year clearly won't be one of them, though.

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I had no idea our two worst were b2b, what an awful stretch that must have been.

I also find peoria's max amounts to be real low in comparison to Chicago and Stl.

The 1920's (and 30's and 40's) were overall pretty awful.

Yeah Peoria looks like they have a lowball thing going. Janet has questioned their amounts (of recent vintage) for the longest time it seems.

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Especially Green Bay's #1 highest because I don't think they get any LES.

Other shocker. Clev's #1 lowest at 8.8" for a LES location! :ee:

Also Detroit's top ten for the most part beats Chicago's. Huh?

That is crazy for a LES location, but its believable. 1918-19 was disaster. As you see Detroit (15.2") ranks 4th least snowy that year, but a big part of that was 8" in March (5.8" storm on Mar 8/9). That storm probably tracked west of Cleveland giving them all rain (even Detroit turned to rain, snow depth went from 5" on Mar 9th to 2" on Mar 10th).

Curious why it surprises you about Detroit beating Chicago? Detroit averages I believe about 6" more than Chicago.

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Detroit with a lot of stinkers in the teens...

Yup, exactly 10 winters with less than 20 inches of snow, but it hasnt happened since 1968-69.

Looking at them chronologically, 6 of them fell in the two-decade span from the late 1940s to late 1960s. Ouch.

1881-82

1889-90

1918-19

1936-37

1948-49

1952-53

1957-58

1960-61

1965-66

1968-69

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Heres a closer look at Detroits top 10 snowy/least snowy winters.

TOP 10 MOST SNOWY

......................Snow.....1"+ snwcvr days...Peak Depth...Biggest storm

01.) 1880-81.......93.6"............M................M............12.5" - Jan 31/Feb 1

02.) 1925-26.......78.0"..........70 days............9"...........8.9" - Feb 12/13

03.) 1981-82.......74.0"..........89 days..........18".........11.8" - Jan 30/31

04.) 2007-08.......71.7"..........63 days............9"...........9.0" - Dec 15/16

05.) 1899-00.......69.1"............M.................26".........16.1" - Mar 4/5

06.) 2010-11.......69.1"..........80 days..........16".........10.3" - Feb 1/2

07.) 1907-08.......67.2"..........63 days..........15".........12.6" - Feb 19

08.) 1929-30.......66.5"..........79 days..........14".........13.8" - Dec 18/19

09.) 2008-09.......65.7"..........60 days..........14"...........7.9" - Dec 19

10.) 2004-05.......63.8"..........62 days..........12".........12.2" - Jan 22

TOP 10 LEAST SNOWY

......................Snow.....1"+ snwcvr days...Peak Depth...Biggest storm

01.) 1936-37.......12.9".........10 days.............3"............3.5" - Jan 22

02.) 1881-82.......13.2".............M..................M.............2.6" - Jan 25

03.) 1948-49.......13.7".........17 days.............4"............2.8" - Jan 26

04.) 1918-19.......15.2".........12 days.............5"............5.8" - Mar 8/9

05.) 1965-66.......15.4".........33 days.............4"............3.0" - Jan 22/23

06.) 1889-90.......15.8".............M..................4"............5.0" - Mar 28

07.) 1952-53.......16.6".........16 days.............2"............3.2" - Jan 11

08.) 1968-69.......17.1".........28 days.............5"............3.3" - Jan 6

09.) 1957-58.......18.0".........32 days.............3"............2.1" - Feb 14-16

10.) 1960-61.......18.0".........35 days.............3"............3.0" - Apr 16/17

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40.7 for detroit and 37.3 for chicago all time... Prob more fair to compare chicago to wyandotte and south down to the border than compare them with detroit. Warm lake in fall and early winter doesn't do chicago any favors either.. Yeah they get lake enhancement and LES on occasion but detroit can also nickel and dime streamers from the west and even some from the other direction so it evens out some.

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40.7 for detroit and 37.3 for chicago all time... Prob more fair to compare chicago to wyandotte and south down to the border than compare them with detroit. Warm lake in fall and early winter doesn't do chicago any favors either.. Yeah they get lake enhancement and LES on occasion but detroit can also nickel and dime streamers from the west and even some from the other direction so it evens out some.

wasnt sure bout chicagos longterm avg...more or less we have very similar climates.

Speaking of longterm avg, heres a funny stat. Running 4-year average at the conclusion of last winter was 62.6" at DTW (250.2" the last 4 winters). If not one single flake of snow fell in 2011-12 AND 2012-13, the running 6-year average in spring of 2013 would still have been 41.7" (250 / 6), still an inch above longterm avg.

Obviously the chance of that happening is 0 as 6.7" has already fallen this season, and hell, Ill say it...chances of it EVER happening are 0. And I STILL feel in the end this will be an above normal season here. But karma AND climo says we REALLY should have a sub-40" winter or three quite soon.

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Interesting to note that a top 10 and a bottom 10 winter in Indianapolis seemed to go hand in hand…

1892-93 | 40.0”

1893-94 | 9.7”

1895-96 | 46.8”

1981-82 | 58.2”

1982-83 | 7.1”

1972-73 | 7.9”

1973-74 | 44.8”

1977-78 | 57.9”

1978-79 | 38.4”

Good catch Jim. Roller coaster type stretches. But also shows the high volatility of winters in central Indiana. Not that there isn't a lot of 20-25" winters...but the extremes are certainly there too.

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With the first half of January looking more and more likely to pass snowless, odd of Chicago reaching top 10 least snowy status are looking good.

EDIT: Given the less than rosey long range of the 12z Euro, good chance we ride into february with little to no snow. Going to need nearly 20 inches in a month or so just to avoid a top 10 low finish.

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  • 3 weeks later...

With the first half of January looking more and more likely to pass snowless, odd of Chicago reaching top 10 least snowy status are looking good.

EDIT: Given the less than rosey long range of the 12z Euro, good chance we ride into february with little to no snow. Going to need nearly 20 inches in a month or so just to avoid a top 10 low finish.

Bad edit (to the bolded specifically) or Euro fail. :P

...THE CHICAGO-OHARE IL CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 20 2012...

SNOWFALL (IN)

YESTERDAY 5.4

MONTH TO DATE 11.2

SINCE DEC 1 12.9

SINCE JUL 1 12.9

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