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Dear Tom,

Will we have high snow totals in February and March? 

Barb

Hi Barb,

Snowfall so far this season has been below normal, and current forecasts show little promise for significant snowfall through early February. Normal snowfall for February is 10.7 inches, and 5.5 inches for March. Checking the records for combined February and March snowfall in Chicago dating back to 1885, totals have ranged from as much as 35.4 inches in 1965 to as little as 0.3 inches in 1921. Through mid-January, only 4.7 inches of snow had been recorded at O’Hare Airport.  We had Chicago weather historian Frank Wachowski check the February-March snowfall totals for all nine previous snow seasons that had similar 4.7 inches of snow or less through mid-January. Wachowski found the February-March snowfall totals for those years ranged from a maximum of 26.5 inches in 2013 to a minimum of 7.9 inches in 1937, with a nine-season average of 14.7 inches. History suggests that the back half of this winter is likely to be snowier than the first half, but for that to happen, weather patterns must shift, putting the Chicago area into a colder regime that would support some significant snowfall.