Chicago's Epic Snow Drought

[michsnowfreak]

5 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

18.3" right now for the season is 1.5" behind where 2011-12 finished.  Those 6 least snowy winters all occurred in the 1940s and earlier.

Detroits top 6 in futility are 1936-37, 1881-82, 1948-49, 1918-19, 1965-66, 1889-90. No other way around it...there were some truly horrendous winters many years ago. The more I have researched some of them the more fascinating they are. Because, you know, in those days grandpa walked uphill in 6 feet of snow.

[Chambana]

45 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

Detroits top 6 in futility are 1936-37, 1881-82, 1948-49, 1918-19, 1965-66, 1889-90. No other way around it...there were some truly horrendous winters many years ago. The more I have researched some of them the more fascinating they are. Because, you know, in those days grandpa walked uphill in 6 feet of snow.

What's really impressive is the mild winter of 1918-1919, that came off the heels of a truly benchmark epic winter during 1917-1918.

[michsnowfreak]

12 minutes ago, Chambana said:

What's really impressive is the mild winter of 1918-1919, that came off the heels of a truly benchmark epic winter during 1917-1918.

True, although 1917-18 wasnt anything special here snow-wise. It was actually a few inches below normal. But bitterly cold and above normal snowcover. But hands down the winner, at least at Detroit, is 1880-81 & 1881-82.

 

Not to derail the thread, but it was absolutely shocking. This is a reminder that Ma Nature usually balances things out to SOME degree (remember Chicago recently set a record for 4 consecutive 50"+ seasons).

 

Detroit extremes

1880-81...93.6"....21.7F (currently ranks 2nd snowiest (was #1 til 2013-14) & 13th coldest)

1881-82...13.2"....36.9F (currently ranks 2nd least snowy & 1st warmest)

 

1917-18...38.4"....19.2F (currently ranks 4th coldest, no snow ranking)

1918-19...15.2"....32.3F (currently ranks 10th warmest, 4th least snowy)

[Chambana]

8 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

True, although 1917-18 wasnt anything special here snow-wise. It was actually a few inches below normal. But bitterly cold and above normal snowcover. But hands down the winner, at least at Detroit, is 1880-81 & 1881-82.

 

Not to derail the thread, but it was absolutely shocking. This is a reminder that Ma Nature usually balances things out to SOME degree (remember Chicago recently set a record for 4 consecutive 50"+ seasons).

 

Detroit extremes

1880-81...93.6"....21.7F (currently ranks 2nd snowiest (was #1 til 2013-14) & 13th coldest)

1881-82...13.2"....36.9F (currently ranks 2nd least snowy & 1st warmest)

 

1917-18...38.4"....19.2F (currently ranks 4th coldest, no snow ranking)

1918-19...15.2"....32.3F (currently ranks 10th warmest, 4th least snowy)

 

Incredible!! Awesome stats. Also goes to show you, extremes date back to before records were kept. 

[Hoosier]

I have a funny feeling about which one of these will be way off

 

[snowlover2]

2 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

I have a funny feeling about which one of these will be way off

 

Just a small difference.

[IWXwx]

Is that the 12km NAM or the lolNAM?

[Hoosier]

With no snow for the next couple days, these numbers will be final.

Fewest days with 1"+ snow, January-February:

2017:  0

1922:  0

1891:  1

1931:  1

1996:  1

1899:  2

1919:  2

1921:  2

1928:  2

1932:  2

1933:  2

1937:  2

1949:  2

1952:  2

1954:  2

1958:  2

1992:  2

2001:  2

2003:  2

2006:  2

 

 

[weatherbo]

Every time I open this thread my jaw drops! Unbelievable stats! Remember back in the day when chi and Madison were the snow magnets. Geos should have never left.

[Hoosier]

Fewest days with 0.1"+ of snow, January-February:

2017:  4

1928:  4

1931:  4

1933:  4

1932:  6

1998:  6

1921:  7

1944:  7

2002:  7

1890:  8

1894:  8

1911:  8

1919:  8

1925:  8

1949:  8

1953:  8

1990:  8

1995:  8

2006:  8

1889:  9

1917:  9

1938:  9

1958:  9

1964:  9

1973:  9

1992:  9

2001:  9

2003:  9

[Hoosier]

LOT tweeted that Chicago has never gone through January and February with a snow depth of 0, so 2017 will be a first.

[michsnowfreak]

11 hours ago, Hoosier said:

LOT tweeted that Chicago has never gone through January and February with a snow depth of 0, so 2017 will be a first.

Surprised they didn't get a trace with a few of their dustings? Or maybe they mean without a 1 inch depth?

[beavis1729]

On 2/26/2017 at 11:45 AM, michsnowfreak said:

Yes I meant the entire snow season. As epic as this drought has been for chicago, in the record books it will always look like there's been 6 worse ones lol.

Correct...but why bother trying to add perspective?  All it does is reinforce how bad Chicago's winter climo is...which we already know way too well.  This post isn't directed at you Josh (or anyone else in particular) - just a general statement of frustration.

I wish people would just admit how bad the winter has been, instead of trying to come up with silver linings with respect to prior winters.  There aren't any.

As for what Hoosier posted above - there really have been 20 winters with two or fewer days with 1"+ snowfall??  That seals it once and for all - Chicago does not have winter, period.  Yes, Chicago has decent winters every so often (such as 2013-14 and 1978-79)...but you can never count on them.  Send all of our ridiculous warm-mongering media and public to the UP for a winter, and see what happens to them.  Even our cold Feb 2015 was normal for northern WI - people make it sound like that month was as cold as the North Pole.  It's amusing.

Prior to seeing all of these statistics about past winters, I figured we could easily explain away the horrid nature of the last 2 winters, i.e., "A, B, and C came together from a meteorological standpoint...and the odds of that occurring again are essentially zero."  But then you see statistics which show that several past winters have been just as horrible...and you just throw your hands up.  What's the point of trying to rationalize things anymore?  None of the old stand-bys matter, i.e. "at least it will be wintry in mid-Dec to mid-Feb", "let the seasonal transition play itself out...good snow cover to the north will help keep things cold here", "storms won't cut after Christmas", "the shorter days will help us", etc. 

I should know better not to buy into these myths...especially when you consider that, for every nice wintry day in January with a high of 20 and a low of 5 (nothing extraordinary in the dead of winter), there needs to be a 40/25 day (an absolutely non-wintry day) to balance things out from a climo perspective.  And it's even worse in Dec or Feb.

[Hoosier]

4 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

Surprised they didn't get a trace with a few of their dustings? Or maybe they mean without a 1 inch depth?

Checking the F6, the daily depth was listed as 0 on every day in January (obviously February as well since there's been nothing measurable this month).

[michsnowfreak]

7 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

Correct...but why bother trying to add perspective?  All it does is reinforce how bad Chicago's winter climo is...which we already know way too well.  This post isn't directed at you Josh (or anyone else in particular) - just a general statement of frustration.

I wish people would just admit how bad the winter has been, instead of trying to come up with silver linings with respect to prior winters.  There aren't any.

As for what Hoosier posted above - there really have been 20 winters with two or fewer days with 1"+ snowfall??  That seals it once and for all - Chicago does not have winter, period.  Yes, Chicago has decent winters every so often (such as 2013-14 and 1978-79)...but you can never count on them.  Send all of our ridiculous warm-mongering media and public to the UP for a winter, and see what happens to them.  Even our cold Feb 2015 was normal for northern WI - people make it sound like that month was as cold as the North Pole.  It's amusing.

Prior to seeing all of these statistics about past winters, I figured we could easily explain away the horrid nature of the last 2 winters, i.e., "A, B, and C came together from a meteorological standpoint...and the odds of that occurring again are essentially zero."  But then you see statistics which show that several past winters have been just as horrible...and you just throw your hands up.  What's the point of trying to rationalize things anymore?  None of the old stand-bys matter, i.e. "at least it will be wintry in mid-Dec to mid-Feb", "let the seasonal transition play itself out...good snow cover to the north will help keep things cold here", "storms won't cut after Christmas", "the shorter days will help us", etc. 

I should know better not to buy into these myths...especially when you consider that, for every nice wintry day in January with a high of 20 and a low of 5 (nothing extraordinary in the dead of winter), there needs to be a 40/25 day (an absolutely non-wintry day) to balance things out from a climo perspective.  And it's even worse in Dec or Feb.

I do not live in Chicago, I am not trying to sugar coat anything. I have not been happy with winter after Dec 26th either but Ive had it way better, so its not like Im trying to say anything about something Im not experiencing. And I cannot imagine how you must feel, I honestly would be pulling my hair out.

 

Im merely stating that someone will say "theres been 6 worse winters" because Ive noticed something in all my years on weather boards. BY FAR the good times have outnumbered the bad, but theres always griping about something (even when there shouldnt be, this year naturally there should be). And when its been pointed out that "this is the X snowiest winter on record, or this is the X snowiest month on record, etc" someone would say "yeah but it hit 50F this day" or something to try and knock it down a notch. My entire point is that each and every winter has a story. So its not fair to look at old winters and say "oh this was a good one" or "this was a bad one" simply by looking at total snowfall but then taking the present winter and dissecting it. Every winter has a story. And many years down the road, some will do the exact same to chicago in 2016-17.

 

Weve beaten this horse so many times. "Chicago has no winter" is complete nonsense. They average about 37 inches of snow (hoosier?) and have winter temperature cold enough to be classified as "humid continental climate", a climate classification system that is used throughout the entire globe, and one that states "cold, sometimes severely cold" winters. No, they are not buried in snow like 1% of the population that we snow lovers dream about, but they have winter. I know some chicago snow lovers at this point are probably rooting for the futility since its almost March, but for your sake Beavis, I really really REALLY hope you get some snow!

[Hoosier]

You're close.  The average is 36.3"

[Hoosier]

Another one to keep an eye on is the latest first 1" snow in astronomical winter. It's fully 3 weeks past that record (old record Feb 6, 1933) as of today.

[michsnowfreak]

Beavis, Feb 2015 in Chicago was colder than a typical northern WI February. When I think of northern WI I think Green Bay, and chicago was something like 6F colder than a typical green Bay feb. It was even colder than an average Duluth or Marquette February. Have to go to international falls before I find a a colder avg February than chicago saw in 2015. Oddly Detroit was even colder than chicago that month. 

 

And Hoosier did chicago really have 20 winters with only two 1"+ snowfalls? That seems suspiciously high to me. I think Detroit has only had two such winters.

[Hoosier]

53 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

Beavis, Feb 2015 in Chicago was colder than a typical northern WI February. When I think of northern WI I think Green Bay, and chicago was something like 6F colder than a typical green Bay feb. It was even colder than an average Duluth or Marquette February. Have to go to international falls before I find a a colder avg February than chicago saw in 2015. Oddly Detroit was even colder than chicago that month. 

 

And Hoosier did chicago really have 20 winters with only two 1"+ snowfalls? That seems suspiciously high to me. I think Detroit has only had two such winters.

No that's only for January and February combined.

[beavis1729]

2 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

Beavis, Feb 2015 in Chicago was colder than a typical northern WI February. When I think of northern WI I think Green Bay, and chicago was something like 6F colder than a typical green Bay feb. It was even colder than an average Duluth or Marquette February. Have to go to international falls before I find a a colder avg February than chicago saw in 2015. Oddly Detroit was even colder than chicago that month. 

 

And Hoosier did chicago really have 20 winters with only two 1"+ snowfalls? That seems suspiciously high to me. I think Detroit has only had two such winters.

By northern WI, I mean the Minocqua/Eagle River area...where the avg. DJF temp is about 12 degrees colder than ORD.

[michsnowfreak]

14 hours ago, Hoosier said:

No that's only for January and February combined.

Xmacis has a few years in the late 1800s with missing data, but other than that, it appears the record for Chicago for least amount of 1"+ snowfall days in a season is 3 in 1936-37. Detroit has actually had two winters with just 2 days (1936-37 & 1965-66), although Detroits least snowy winter would only be good for Chicagos 3rd least snowy. So many millions of ways to look at stats lol. The most for Chicago is 23 days in 1977-78 & 2013-14 (for Detroit it is 26 in 2013-14). For reference, this season Chicago has had 5 days, all before Dec 18th (Detroit has had 9). Normal for Chicago in a season is 11 (Detroit is 13).

[michsnowfreak]

13 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

By northern WI, I mean the Minocqua/Eagle River area...where the avg. DJF temp is about 12 degrees colder than ORD.

I was only looking at climate stations. Im guessing those are rural areas with much lower temps than any of the nearby cities.

[Jonger]

There is no sugar coating it... This winter was almost wall to wall crap. December was decent, but the moment the 18th rolled around, it was done.

DJF featured 2 good weeks and then winter essentially ended for everyone south of 44N.

[michsnowfreak]

1 hour ago, Jonger said:

There is no sugar coating it... This winter was almost wall to wall crap. December was decent, but the moment the 18th rolled around, it was done.

DJF featured 2 good weeks and then winter essentially ended for everyone south of 44N.

I'd say we had 4.5 good weeks total. It sucked overall that's for sure. 

[Snowstorms]

The Chicago snow drought is epic beyond words. I'd go crazy if something like that were to happen here. YYZ has never had such snow droughts in its climatological record. Partially due to LES that sometimes ends up dropping an inch or two, locally.

I can't fathom what Chicago went thru this Winter. Truly mind-boggling and frightening (from a climate perspective).

 

 

 

[Jonger]

1 hour ago, michsnowfreak said:

I'd say we had 4.5 good weeks total. It sucked overall that's for sure. 

If you add up all the interspersed days together... But that's stretching it. Any day where the temp exceeds 32 is a flop in my book.

[Jonger]

1 hour ago, Snowstorms said:

The Chicago snow drought is epic beyond words. I'd go crazy if something like that were to happen here. YYZ has never had such snow droughts in its climatological record. Partially due to LES that sometimes ends up dropping an inch or two, locally.

I can't fathom what Chicago went thru this Winter. Truly mind-boggling and frightening (from a climate perspective).

 

 

 

It's more painful due to the fact that a snow machine sits next to them. They are on the wrong side of the lake.

[Powerball]

6 hours ago, Jonger said:

There is no sugar coating it... This winter was almost wall to wall crap. December was decent, but the moment the 18th rolled around, it was done.

DJF featured 2 good weeks and then winter essentially ended for everyone south of 44N.

 

5 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

I'd say we had 4.5 good weeks total. It sucked overall that's for sure. 

This winter has pretty much been a 3-4 month long March. 

[michsnowfreak]

9 hours ago, Powerball said:

 

This winter has pretty much been a 3-4 month long March. 

That Ill give you. March is typically a roller coaster month. We had a solid periods of winter Dec 8-25, Jan 5-10, & Jan 28-Feb 6.

 

Chicago may do it with this clipper coming up. A bit mad that this initially looked to be our clipper here and now appears to be going south, but it will be hitting areas whove seen far less snow this winter (and wont last but two days). So I guess wherever the clipper goes, hope it overperforms.

[IWXwx]

The rubber band has snapped for ORD. After getting pounded like a cheap steak and Alek with snows up to his a$$, the boomerang has produced a case of whiplash.

EDIT: And Baum bought a snowblower that he'd sell cheap.