Gino Izzi of the NWS office in Romeoville rounded up these statistics for late season snowfall in Chicago and Rockford…
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
1128 AM CDT FRI MAR 25 2011 /1228 PM EDT FRI MAR 25 2011/
...LATE SEASON SNOWFALLS...
NOTHING SAYS SPRING TIME IN ILLINOIS MORE THAN TEMPERATURES IN THE
20S AND GRAY CLOUDY SKIES...BUT HISTORICALLY SPEAKING IT MAY BE A
BIT TOO SOON TO STOW AWAY THOSE SHOVELS. IN FACT...PORTIONS OF
MISSOURI AND DOWNSTATE ILLINOIS ARE SEEING SNOW THIS MORNING. SO
HOW COMMON IS IT TO SEE SHOVEL-ABLE SNOW IN OUR AREA THIS TIME OF
YEAR?
IN CHICAGO...54 OF THE PAST 139 YEARS (OR ABOUT 39%) HAVE HAD AT
LEAST ONE DAY WITH AN INCH OR MORE OF SNOWFALL ON OR AFTER MARCH
25TH. IN FACT...17 OF THOSE YEARS HAD MULTIPLE DAYS WITH OVER AN
INCH OF SNOWFALL INCLUDING 6 DAYS WITH OVER AN INCH OF SNOW BACK IN
1926! HERE ARE SOME OF THE RECENT LATE SEASON (AFTER MARCH 25TH)
CHICAGO SNOWFALLS...
SNOWFALL DATE
3.0 4/11/2007
3.0 4/ 7/2003
2.1 4/ 5/2009
1.9 3/27/2008
1.6 4/ 7/2000
1.2 3/29/2009
HERE ARE THE TOP 10 BIGGEST LATE SEASON SINGLE DAY SNOWFALL TOTALS
FOR CHICAGO...
RANK SNOW DATE
1 13.6 3/25/1930
2 9.4 4/ 5/1982
9.4 4/ 2/1975
4 9.0 4/ 6/1938
5 8.9 3/26/1970
6 8.2 4/ 1/1970
7 7.8 3/30/1926
8 7.7 3/29/1954
9 7.1 3/29/1964
10 6.6 3/26/1934
IN ROCKFORD...47 OF THE PAST 118 YEARS (OR ABOUT 40%) HAVE HAD DAYS
WITH AN INCH OR MORE OF SNOWFALL ON OR AFTER MARCH 25TH. OF THOSE
YEARS...10 HAVE HAD MULTIPLE DAYS WITH OVER AN INCH OF SNOW
INCLUDING 4 DAYS IN 1970 AND 1926. HERE ARE SOME RECENT LATE SEASON
ROCKFORD SNOWFALLS...
SNOWFALL DATE
1.9 4/11/2007
1.8 3/29/2009
1.2 4/ 7/2000
1.1 4/ 1/2002
1.0 4/12/2007
HERE ARE THE TOP 10 BIGGEST LATE SEASON SINGLE DAY SNOWFALL TOTALS
FOR ROCKFORD...
RANK SNOW DATE
1 13.5 3/31/1926
2 10.4 3/29/1972
3 7.0 4/18/1912
4 6.3 4/ 5/1982
5 6.0 4/ 6/1938, 6.0 3/25/1933
7 5.0 3/29/1954
8 4.8 3/29/1964
9 4.6 4/ 2/1975
10 4.5 4/ 2/1936, 4.5 3/28/1894
WHILE NO BIG SNOWS ARE CURRENTLY IN THE FORECAST FOR THE REGION...IT
IS WORTH NOTING THAT LATE SEASON SNOWS ARE NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT TO
PREDICT MUCH IN ADVANCE. CURRENT INDICATIONS ARE THAT THE COLD AIR
OVER THE AREA NOW WILL REMAIN IN PLACE THROUGH THE WEEKEND INTO
EARLY NEXT WEEK.
$$
IZZI