Chicago weather: Several inches of snow marks end of unusually warm, snowless January
A person shovels the sidewalk Wednesday on North Rogers Avenue near West Howard Street as snow falls across the Chicago area.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
After an unusually warm and snowless start to the year, winter finally hit Chicago on Wednesday.
Even with the 3-plus inches of snow, Chicago’s total snowfall this season is 10 inches below average, according to the National Weather Service.
And temperates have remained stubbornly high for January — 10 degrees higher than usual.
But Wednesday’s snowfall marks an end to a stretch of warm and snowless weather not seen in the city in years.
“We’re in for a pattern change,” said Scott Baker, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s office in Romeoville. “To be this warm is pretty rare.”
O’Hare Airport reported 3.5 inches of snow by noon, while Midway Airport reported 3 inches, according to the Weather Service.
Light snow was expected to fall through the evening. Temperatures will dip into the 20s and teens in the days ahead, and another large snowfall could hit Saturday.
Snow began falling around 2 a.m. Wednesday, with the heaviest snowfall in the hours before 7 a.m., according to the weather service. With temperatures hanging around freezing Wednesday, snow was melting into slush on the roads, slowing traffic.
The weather service had predicted up to 4 inches of snow and had issued a winter weather advisory through 6 p.m.
As of 1:20 p.m., 230 flights were canceled at Chicago’s two airports. At O’Hare Airport, 501 flights were delayed; at Midway, 44 fights were delayed, according to the flight-tracking website Flightaware.com.
Chicago’s average temperature has averaged 35 degrees, well above the usual 25 degrees.
Only three other years in Chicago’s recorded history had Januarys as warm as this year. January 2006 had an average temperature of 35.8 degrees, Baker said. January 1933 averaged 36.7 degrees. The warmest January on record was in 1880 when Chicago averaged 39.8 degrees.
The season has been relatively snowless, too. The city has seen only 8.6 inches of snow this season, well below the usual 18 to 19 inches, Baker said.
The area will enter a stretch of cold weather and regular snowfall through next week, Baker said. The snow will likely stay on the ground as temperatures remain below freezing, he said.
The next chance of heavy snow is Saturday afternoon and evening, but it’s too early to tell how much might fall, Baker said.