Recap: recent rainfall and winter 2016-17

The weekend rains were as heavy as advertised, with 3.59" reported at Midway and 3.36" at O'Hare. Other totals generally ranged from 2.0 to 4.5 inches. A full April averages ~3.4 inches, so we essentially had an entire April packed into one weekend. That continues a very wet start to 2017, which has opened with 14.8” of rain and stands as the sixth-wettest at O’Hare since 1971.

 

More light showers are roaming the area this afternoon and evening, but the powerhouse storm is clearing the area and thankfully we’ll be drying out in its wake. Temps will climb through the 50s and 60s with lots of sun as the week goes on.

 

And despite the weekend snow in places like Denver -- and an all-out blizzard in parts of Kansas and Nebraska -- winter is really, officially over, so here is a recap.

 

• Our total seasonal snowfall was 26.1” officially at O’Hare, the least since 2011-’12 and well below the 30-year average of 38”
  • After starting the winter with a bang (17.7” in December, and all of that in the first three weeks) we had a near-record stretch of snowless weather that lasted into March
  • For the first time ever we had less than 1” combined in January and February
  • There was no snow in April, and the last trace of snow (also the date of the last measurable snow){ on March 14^th is the 3^rd-earliest on record
• A freeze is still possible, although it is historically rare and really, really unlikely given the upcoming forecast…so if our last freeze holds at March 23, that would be the second-earliest on record (tying 1871)
• Meteorological winter (Dec-Feb) was unusual, to say the least
  • We saw five thunderstorm days – more than 1-2 days is rare, but I couldn’t find the all-time record
  • We saw more days with measurable rain than days with measurable snow
  • We saw 46 (!) days with fog – again, I couldn’t find the all-time record but that has to be up there – and 11 days with dense fog (vis. < ¼ mile)
  • The average high temperature was 4.2 degrees above normal and the average low was 4.3 degrees to the warm side

 

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