Chicago Storm

This was from just a short time ago near home…

I can see the lights even here at ORD currently.

Highest report I've been able to come across is 17" in Winthrop Harbor.

ORD got on the board with the first T and first measurable snow of the new season on Saturday night/Sunday morning, with the hybrid storm system that moved through. A whopping 0.1" of snow occurred (Area reports suggest that was probably a few tenths too low). ORD picked up 1.6" of snowfall last night/this morning, with the lake effect snow event. Winter 2025/26 Snowfall Totals 1.7" - ORD 1.2" - RFD

You know who should be fired for that AFD on Sunday morning.

The thing is, there was stationary banding, two in fact. The issue was more that the core of the metro was just split by both bands, just due to unfavorable positioning. The main-full lake plume ended up too far west (Racine-Kenosha-Waukegan) and the southern lake/meso-low band was too far south (Lake Co, IN to Iroquois Co).

It is looking like downtown, ORD and MDW will miss out on the best of this one. There are two areas of interest for maximum accumulation totals. Location #1 will be from the Gary-Valpo area down to the Kankakee area, where snowfall is maximized on the backside of the meso-low. Location #2 will be from around Kenosha down to around Lake Forest, where the main single band looks to have found it's spot to park for several hours.

Someone I know has reported graupel.

Right over downtown on the feed.

The massive meso-low currently at the southern tip of the lake is just cranking. Can't recall seeing something to that magnitude before around here.

One of many… But this particular meso-low earlier this afternoon was quite significant.

The NWS Central Region did a few years ago. The move was made to make simplify things and lower the number of headlines types overall. But at the same time, it's kind of of dumb, because this is clearly not a "winter storm". Gain simplicity, lose accuracy.

If it works out perfectly, you’re getting Buffalo-ed. As you well know, odds say it won’t. But, if it does…

The problem re: Chicago snowfall records… The core of activity will likely be east of ORD. So, in the end, it may be tough to see any sort of record falls, unless best activity is surprisingly further west. Orientation may even keep MDW out of the absolute best as well, but we’ll see. Better shot there than ORD. Of course, nothing there would be official, but it would be documented at least.

hopefully that's sarcasm.