Chicago Storm

events up north need threads more often.

 
As depressing as that might be, it still beats a crippling ice storm...

2 hours ago, cyclone77 said:

DVN just issued the lamest winter storm warning in history.  Talk about setting the bar low.  

Brief snow squalls with most areas seeing a DAB.  Might as well just go all in and go with a blizzard warning, or hurricane warning. 

horrid decision making.

35 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

Why not a snow squall warning?

that makes all too much sense.

Cold front passed through the area earlier this afternoon, with (convective) rain showers accompanying it, which helped to transport higher winds down to the surface.

Peak wind gusts of 48MPH at ORD, 52MPH at MDW, and 41MPH at RFD.

Solid sunset a short time ago at ORD…

1 hour ago, Stevo6899 said:

Our criteria are different. I think grabbing a beer with beavis would be alot more fun and entertaining than with you hoss.

yes, you have proven your criteria and expectations are outlandish.

It can happen but rarely does. Also if you could read hoss, my first post said big snows and high ratio 6-9 isn't a big snow. Yea you need cold air to get big snows but not in your backyard (temps in teens). Take a break being a clown hoss.

There's a reason detroit didnt get more than 3 inches in one event in the cold pattern we've been in for 2 weeks+.

We dont get big snows with temps in the teens and nw flow.

Gotta have warmer temps to get the big snows.

we thank you for participating in this 2.5 week stretch of winter.

we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Low temperatures last night/this morning...
-6 RFD
-2 ORD
-1 MDW

Peak wind chills last night/this morning...
-23 RFD
-21 ORD
-21 MDW

I officially brought the snow depth down to 0" this evening at ORD (Really its a T, but we don't report that).

We've been barely hanging on to 1" for a day or two now, but there's just too much grass showing all-around to keep that fantasy going any longer.

palms gonna be loving the upcoming pattern

Sat snow seems more north on runs today but guessing that will shift south like today's clipper did 

ORD picked up 0.1" of snow from the weak duster clipper on Monday night and then another 0.1" of snow this morning with the back-wash from most recent hybrid-clipper the past two days.

Picked up 0.1" of snow at home with each as well.

…2025/26 Season Snowfall...
18.0" - RFD
17.3" - ORD
16.4" - Home

3 minutes ago, Radtechwxman said:

And cams ended up being right. 18z nam more south than hrrr but more north of globals. So might be a good compromise. Hrrr definitely the most north. But would be par for course to get missed north Thurs and missed south Sat. 

the cams ended up caving, as did the globals.

in the end a split scenario was what occurred. (not to say that will be the case this go-around, though)

2 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

I'm going to trust that others are with me in this rant...but if not, then ignore or delete the post, and call me crazy/unhinged.

How do we get 15" of snow in a 7-day period, then it's down to bare patches a few days later with only 18 hours of above-freezing temps?  It's absolutely ridiculous, and wipes out any earlier thoughts on "a great start to winter".  If the snow doesn't stay on the ground, it's as though it never happened.

Even prior to the short thaw yesterday, the depth was down to 9" IMBY, which is a whole other issue...as the depth went down by 6" with sub-freezing temps.  Now it's down to 3" of slush.  I realize there can be some compaction and a bit of melting over time, and when you have 18 hours with temps 34-38, but the sun never came out...which normally would help.  It's not like it hit 50F with dews in the 40s. There should be 10" of depth now, not 3"...and it's even worse by ORD and the more urbanized areas.

Why is it so ******* difficult to preserve snow around here?  Do soil temps really make that much of a difference, combined with a half-day with dews over 32F?  How do you lose 15" of snow with one day above freezing, during the time of year when sun angle is the lowest? 

It's a like a million things need to go right to get snow in the first place, and then a million more things need to go right to keep it on the ground.  One tiny thing goes wrong, and it all vanishes. If yesterday's "storm" would have tracked 75 miles further south (which is just a chaotic blip in the grand scheme of things), none of this would be happening.  One tiny annoying random event should not destroy 2 weeks of a good pattern, but it does.  Same thing happened with GHD I in Feb. 2011.  22" of depth on 2/5/11, and it was essentially all gone 10 days later.  If that were March, no problem...but that shouldn't happen in early-mid Feb, well within the winter season on the calendar.

This looked like a guaranteed White Christmas a few days ago, now it's almost a guaranteed brown Christmas...just a complete 180 degree turnaround.

"mild" ground temps + dp's above 32 + temps above 32 + windy + rain = rapid melt.

also, if one has been looking at the pattern ahead, they would know a white christmas was never a guarantee.

If hrrr is right N IL scores again and I will be on southern edge. Cams definitely more north and globals more south. Crazy how much variability there still is the day before. 

2 hours ago, A-L-E-K said:

the snowpack was built on dusters

poor take, they definitelywere not dusters.

Sort of a chain reaction effect, with short term changes with the current trough in part leading to the changes for the clippers.

mostly bare grass here at the office near o'hare
am snow squalls more of the cold rain variety so far
need the late week events to reverse trends asap otherwise looks like white xmas chances are p low imo

The WI and MI crew should thread up that Tues/Wed clipper. It’s worthy, I’d say.

I have to check the exact number, but Winthrop Harbor is already at ~35" of snow on the season.

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