Snow lovers had reason to be happy this past weekend, especially if you live north and northwest of. Up to 8 inches of snow fell in our far northern suburbs. O'Hare officially recorded 2.3 inches of snow. This helped closed the gap a bit compared to average snowfall for the season so far but we are still down a little more than 6 inches.
We saw 29 straight days above average from Dec. 18 through Jan. 25 but we are closing out this month cold.Five of the last six days have been below average. Our colder pattern developed late last Wednesday. Since that day and the following five days we have picked up 7.6 inches of snow at O'Hare or 77% of our total snowfall for January so far and 37% of our total snowfall for the season.
Cold enough air blowing over the relatively warmer waters of Lake Michigan can squeeze out snow too, even in the absence of an organized storm system. Lake-effect snow is a frequent contributor to our seasonal snowfall in Chicago and with Lake Michigan almost ice free, the lake-effect snow machine is open for business provided a cold wind is blowing in our favor in the right direction.More than 90% of the Great Lakes does not have ice cover.
The upwind side of the lake for Chicago is really anything north and east of the city. The downwind side for us is the Illinois shoreline. The wind that squeezes out the most snow and gives us the best "fetch" is out of the north/northeast. The longer that colder air moves over the length of Lake Michigan, the better. The more open the water, the better too.
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