Chicago Snowfall...ORD vs MDW

[Chicago WX]

I had a thread on this subject back at Eastern, alas it's gone forever. But I did post the same thing at Harry's board at the same time, so it was saved. Thanks Harry. Just thought I'd repost it for giggles. I'm going to try to add a little more info in the future.

Since the 1958-59 winter, Chicago has snowfall records from both major airports, Midway (MDW) and O'Hare (ORD). MDW's records actually date back to 1928, but for the purpose of this thread we'll start with the 1958-59 season when record keeping began at ORD. With the the compared data below, MDW was the official site for Chicago from 1958 to January 16, 1980...at that point ORD became the official site, as it is today. In January 1980, MDW's records continued with the Midway 3SW COOP observer.

Here are the season snowfall totals at each site from 1958-59 to 2009-10 (52 seasons).

Season.......ORD.......MDW

1958-59....32.4".......41.0"

1959-60....51.7".......50.9"

1960-61....23.1".......40.7"

1961-62....47.7".......58.9"

1962-63....37.1".......42.7"

1963-64....36.2".......35.2"

1964-65....61.3".......59.5"

1965-66....28.9".......24.9"

1966-67....69.5".......68.4"

1967-68....27.7".......28.4"

1968-69....22.3".......29.4"

1969-70....56.1".......77.0"

1970-71....23.1".......37.9"

1971-72....36.9".......46.8"

1972-73....25.6".......32.9"

1973-74....37.2".......58.3"

1974-75....37.7".......52.2"

1975-76....27.5".......43.3"

1976-77....24.7".......54.1"

1977-78....52.4".......82.3"

1978-79....83.7".......89.7"

1979-80....41.6".......34.5"

1980-81....35.0".......27.1"

1981-82....59.3".......60.9"

1982-83....26.6".......22.1"

1983-84....49.0".......51.5"

1984-85....39.1".......32.1"

1985-86....29.0".......32.4"

1986-87....26.2".......24.5"

1987-88....42.6".......43.9"

1988-89....24.5".......34.5"

1989-90....33.8".......30.4"

1990-91....36.7".......26.9"

1991-92....28.4".......24.1"

1992-93....46.9".......48.3"

1993-94....41.8".......41.4"

1994-95....24.1".......17.3"

1995-96....23.9".......29.4"

1996-97....40.6".......39.6"

1997-98....29.6".......34.7"

1998-99....50.9".......53.4"

1999-00....30.3".......30.4"

2000-01....39.2".......54.5"

2001-02....31.1".......32.1"

2002-03....28.6".......36.5"

2003-04....24.8".......24.2"

2004-05....39.4".......41.1"

2005-06....26.0".......29.9"

2006-07....35.6".......32.7"

2007-08....60.3".......61.7"

2008-09....52.7".......47.4"

2009-10....54.2".......43.9"

2010-11....57.0".......53.7"

What stands out are the big differences in some of Chicago's seasonal snowfalls between the two sites...more times than not in MDW's favor.

1960-61: MDW +17.6"

1969-70: MDW +20.9"

1973-74: MDW +21.1"

1976-77: MDW +29.4"

1977-78: MDW +29.9"

On the other hand, the biggest differences between ORD vs. MDW (when ORD had the most snow) were these seasons:

1979-80: ORD +7.1"

1980-81: ORD +7.9"

1984-85: ORD +7.0"

1990-91: ORD +9.8"

1994-95: ORD +6.8"

2009-10: ORD +10.3"

Another interesting thing to compare is the 10"+ snowstorms between the two sites. I'm going to use the official storm total for Chicago (at the time of the storm) for this comparison.

Official 10"+ snowstorms for Chicago found here (the Jan 2009 storm has the wrong amount on this page):

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/?n=chi_ten_inch_snow

10"+ snowstorms from 1958 to 1979 (MDW the official site)

Date..................MDW.......ORD

12/19-20/1960.....12.5".......4.2"

12/22-23/1961.....11.7".......7.7"

2/23-25/1965.......11.5"......10.0"

1/26-27/1967.......23.0"......20.4"

12/22-23/1969.....11.3".......11.1"

3/25-26/1970.......14.3"......10.6"

4/1-2/1970..........10.7"......7.2"

1/9-10/1977........10.9"......3.5"

1/25-27/1978......12.4".......8.4"

2/6-7/1978..........10.3"......2.6"

1/13-14/1979......18.8".......15.9"

10"+ snowstorms from 1980 to present (ORD the official site)

Date..................ORD.......MDW

2/10-11/1981......11.2".......9.3"

1/1-3/1999..........21.6"......20.6"

2/18/2000...........11.1"......6.7"

1/30-31/2002......12.0".......10.7"

1/23-25/2005......11.2".......12.9"

2/13-14/2007......10.2".......12.0"

1/9-10/2009........12.0"......7.9"

Out of a total of 18 snowstorms, only half of them had at least 10" at both sites. The biggest difference in the above cases was the December 19-20, 1960 storm (+8.3" for MDW). As for the biggest snowstorms in Chicago's entire recorded history (top 10), MDW has #1, #4, and #9...ORD has #2.

The approximate distance between ORD and MDW is 16 miles.

[A-L-E-K]

You have to wonder how much of this is added lake moisture for MDW.

[Chicago WX]

Hoosier and I were talking about the lack of 10"+ storms, officially for Chicago, in the 1981-1999 stretch. When in fact, MDW had five such storms. Of course in January 1980, ORD became the official site for Chicago. Anyway, here's those five storms and the totals at both the MDW COOP and ORD.

April 4-5, 1982

MDW: 10.5"

ORD: 9.4"

January 9-10, 1987

MDW: 10.4"

ORD: 8.5"

February 10-11, 1988

MDW: 10.8"

ORD: 9.1"

February 22-23, 1994

MDW: 10.6"

ORD: 9.1"

March 9, 1998

MDW: 10.9"

ORD: 6.5"

[Hoosier]

1967 and 1999 really stand out. These are the only 2 storms to drop at least 20" at both airports.

[Chicago WX]

You have to wonder how much of this is added lake moisture for MDW.

I think it plays a big part, without looking into the specifics.

[A-L-E-K]

Hoosier and I were talking about the lack of 10"+ storms, officially for Chicago, in the 1981-1999 stretch. When in fact, MDW had five such storms. Of course in January 1980, ORD became the official site for Chicago. Anyway, here's those five storms and the totals at both the MDW COOP and ORD.

April 4-5, 1982

MDW: 10.5"

ORD: 9.4"

January 9-10, 1987

MDW: 10.4"

ORD: 8.5"

February 10-11, 1988

MDW: 10.8"

ORD: 9.1"

February 22-23, 1994

MDW: 10.6"

ORD: 9.1"

March 9, 1998

MDW: 10.9"

ORD: 6.5"

Not a lot of blowouts, it would be interesting to see the breakdown of how it happened, ie storm passing too far south for ORD or lake giving MDW a little extra love. Some of those 20"+ spread winters are pretty wild.

[Hoosier]

You have to wonder how much of this is added lake moisture for MDW.

I'm sure it's a factor but it's one of those things that really can't be calculated. There's no way to know if Midway just got lucky with some heavier non-lake bands in some of these events.

[A-L-E-K]

1967 and 1999 really stand out. These are the only 2 storms to drop at least 20" at both airports.

I'll be an old man before something like that happens again.

[Chicago WX]

Not a lot of blowouts, it would be interesting to see the breakdown of how it happened, ie storm passing too far south for ORD or lake giving MDW a little extra love. Some of those 20"+ spread winters are pretty wild.

Just looking at the PSU e-Wall NARR page:

April 1982 tracked along the OH river before bending up through eastern OH.

January 1987 went from SE TX to through LAF and then up to SE MI. Cold storm though, almost a mini Jan '99.

February 1988...SE TX to EVV and then off to the east through N KY/S OH and up through CLE

February 1994 was another southern low that went up over IND and then to CLE

March 1998 came from the south with a double barrel low pressure...one coming up into S IL and then another farther south in MS, which then merged and made its way up just east of IND and eventually DTW and YYZ. Famous thundersnow event.

[Harry]

I'll be an old man before something like that happens again.

Which means i'll probably be dead.

Not good considering we sit on the same storm track for such storms. Time to move deeper into the LES zone or back east if i ever wanna see a real snowstorm again.

Oh and NP ChicagoWx/Tim. This is great stuff.

[Chicago WX]

Which means i'll probably be dead.

Not good considering we sit on the same storm track for such storms. Time to move deeper into the LES zone or back east if i ever wanna see a real snowstorm again.

Oh and NP ChicagoWx/Tim. This is great stuff.

Thanks...and thanks again Harry.

[Chicago WX]

Updated these lists based off recently readjusted totals with the 1/12-14/1979 storm and additions of 2/9-10/2010 and 1/31-2/2/2011.

10"+ snowstorms from 1958 to 1979 (MDW the official site)

Date....................MDW.......ORD

12/19-20/1960.....12.5".......4.2"

12/22-23/1961.....11.7".......7.7"

2/23-25/1965.......11.5"......10.0"

1/26-27/1967.......23.0"......20.4"

12/22-23/1969.....11.3".......11.1"

3/25-26/1970.......14.3"......10.6"

4/1-2/1970..........10.7"......7.2"

1/9-10/1977........10.9"......3.5"

1/25-27/1978......12.4".......8.4"

2/6-7/1978..........10.3"......2.6"

1/12-14/1979......20.3".......18.5"

10"+ snowstorms from 1980 to present (ORD the official site)

Date...................ORD.......MDW

2/10-11/1981......11.2".......9.3"

1/1-3/1999..........21.6"......20.6"

2/18/2000...........11.1"......6.7"

1/30-31/2002......12.0".......10.7"

1/23-25/2005......11.2".......12.9"

2/13-14/2007......10.2".......12.0"

1/9-10/2009........12.0"......7.9"

2/9-10/2010........12.9"......9.9"

1/31-2/2/2011......21.2".....21.7"

[tornadotony]

1967 and 1999 really stand out. These are the only 2 storms to drop at least 20" at both airports.

2011 also had 20"+ at both sites.

[Chicago WX]

I have a chart with all of the 10"+ snowstorms for Midway, but the forum won't let me upload anything right now. So, here's just the top 10 biggest snowstorms in MDW's recorded history.

 

POR: airport data from Oct 1928 to Jan 1980, COOP from Jan 1980 to present. Precipitation total in ( ).

 

23.0" (2.40") • January 26-27, 1967

22.1" (2.47") • March 25-26, 1930

21.7" (1.20"*) • January 31-February 2, 2011

20.6" (1.03") • January 1-3, 1999

20.3" (1.38") • January 12-14, 1979

19.2" (1.54") • January 31-February 2, 2015

17.5" (1.72") • March 7-8, 1931

14.8" (1.46") • December 18-19, 1929

14.5" (1.37") • December 11, 2000

14.3" (1.82") • March 25-26, 1970

 

* precipitation missing for Feb 2, 2011, so total is not complete.

 

I also have a more detailed chart of MDW-ORD snowstorms ready, which I hope to post soon.

[A-L-E-K]

best climo