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Dear Tom,
How long has it been since we have had a snow cover as deep as we’ve recently had? It does seem to have been a few years.

David Briggs  
Naperville

Dear David,

It’s been a decade. During the city’s recent snowy period, the snowpack peaked at 21 inches on February 16 and has remained at 11 inches or higher since January 31. The last time the city recorded a 21-inch deep snowpack was ten years ago during the winter of 2010-11 in the aftermath of the 21.2-inch January 31-February 2 Groundhog Blizzard. The city’s all-time record-deep snowpack occurred during the winter of 1978-79, the city’s snowiest on record with 89.7 inches. That winter, the snow-covered the ground for a record 100 consecutive days from November 26-March 5, peaking at 29 inches on January 14.