11/8-11/10 First Snow and Lake Effect Event

[mimillman]

Last gasp of this event. Very heavy rates downtown, roads covered again

 

[GaWx]

 What has been the approximate range of total snowfall for Chicago, itself, so far? I know there’s a last gasp now near the shoreline.

[mimillman]

3 minutes ago, GaWx said:

 What has been the approximate range of total snowfall for Chicago, itself, so far? I know there’s a last gasp now near the shoreline.

2-3” across the metro id say 

[tuanis]

Ended up with about 6” of lake effect fluff here in Libertyville. Better not be our best storm of the winter 

[MrFreeze6298]

Hello everyone, apparently there has been 10" of snowfall in Winthrop Harbor (a northern suburb of Chicago)!
 

[Jackstraw]

Leaves are covering the snow here. That's pretty funny. Snow plows and leaf blowers lol. Great Sat loop of the Great Lakes as the upper low recedes to the S revealing the extent of it's early season cover....

https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/sector_band.php?sat=G19&sector=cgl&band=GEOCOLOR&length=12

[vortex]

From a friend who lives between Kankakee and Momence. 
 

[migratingwx]

That last band was really nice, winding down now and the sky is clearing as I look to my northwest. 

[Orange county]

Many moons ago I use to drive/hitchhike from Madison Wis to Indianapolis

On more than one occassion I would get to the  Big Turn South, past Gary I guess it was, and there was that weird Lake effect snow-like a sorcerer had cast a spell on that part of Lake country

[michsnowfreak]

Neat event. Looks like the jackpot areas saw 10-12".

Over here, our 1.2" of heavy wet snow yesterday half melted then we got another 1.3" from the Lake Huron band in the evening. It was gorgeous this morning as the last gasps of autumn mixed with the early touch of winter, temps in the mid 20s with wind chills mid teens.

Snow totals were 2.5" my backyard, 2.2" DTW. Some areas in the thumb/Port Huron saw 4-6". Totals varied widely throughout SE MI, with some spots getting as little as 0.5" to as much as 6". Detroit-south saw the most snow in the morning (1-3") and then the eastern suburbs saw the most in the evening (1-6").

[tuanis]

The combo of the fresh snow and the remaining fall foliage can’t be beat. It’s already melting off the warm-ish driveway, I’m not even going to shovel. Score!

[Chicago Storm]

4 hours ago, Powerball said:

While it was an impressive setup on paper, it's not surprising that it busted for Chicago at least.

Aside from the convective nature of LES, it is much harder to get stationary banding on the west side of the lake.

The thing is, there was stationary banding, two in fact. The issue was more that the core of the metro was just split by both bands, just due to unfavorable positioning. The main-full lake plume ended up too far west (Racine-Kenosha-Waukegan) and the southern lake/meso-low band was too far south (Lake Co, IN to Iroquois Co).

[RCNYILWX]

The thing is, there was stationary banding, two in fact. The issue was more that the core of the metro was just split by both bands, just due to unfavorable positioning. The main-full lake plume ended up too far west (Racine-Kenosha-Waukegan) and the southern lake/meso-low band was too far south (Lake Co, IN to Iroquois Co).

This. As this case shows, it's tough to get things just right for a certain location with lake effect on the south end of the lake even when there is stationary banding. The jackpot zones are almost always going to be narrow. It's what makes events like Feb 14-16, 2021 rare for the city.

[mimillman]

18 minutes ago, RCNYILWX said:

This. As this case shows, it's tough to get things just right for a certain location with lake effect on the south end of the lake even when there is stationary banding. The jackpot zones are almost always going to be narrow. It's what makes events like Feb 14-16, 2021 rare for the city.

 

Not our climo. I’ll sacrifice it though for lake enhancement during the big dogs 

[RCNYILWX]

Not our climo. I’ll sacrifice it though for lake enhancement during the big dogs 

Also if you're a Chicagoan who likes snow, getting in on any heavy LES prior to the halfway point of November is a big win and extremely rare (I don't recall any events in my time here). I believe there may have been one back in 2000.

[RCNYILWX]

Based on how much discussion there was on social media of the NWS snowfall maps with the huge ranges, was that a topic on here and did anyone attempt to address what those ranges represent? I'd be happy to, just don't want to rehash if it's already been covered.

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[sbnwx85]

A new snowfall record was set in South Bend Sunday. 
8.2" of snow fell.
The old record for this date was 8", in 1913.

The jackpot in the IWX CWA appears to be Walkerton with 14".

Round 2 is starting now

.

[KeenerWx]

Band dropped another 1.2” on its march back east. Three day total now at 8.3”. Most significant November event, locally, in my lifetime. Top tier lake event, too, but I don’t immediately know where it lands. 
 

Crazy that we’re already like 60-70% of the total seasonal snowfall for each 23-24 and 24-25. Hope the curse is lifted and there’s more fun to be had this winter.

[Chicago Storm]

1 hour ago, RCNYILWX said:

Based on how much discussion there was on social media of the NWS snowfall maps with the huge ranges, was that a topic on here and did anyone attempt to address what those ranges represent? I'd be happy to, just don't want to rehash if it's already been covered.

Sent from my SM-S936U using Tapatalk
 

You know who should be fired for that AFD on Sunday morning.

[King James]

Meh - no matter the wording, it was going to be extreme either way. I went to bed expecting 1-3 and woke up with about 14 inches. And I’m sure others went to bed expecting 14 and woke up with 3.

Not sure how you win that forecast. The spread seemed reasonable.

[luckyweather]

14 hours ago, RCNYILWX said:

Just leaving a busy evening shift. TAF verified (edit: at MDW, need ORD still)

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Hey man, I know you and the team are literally doing this unpaid right now, yet you’re still in there grinding. Just wanted to say I appreciate you, sincerely. 

[Chicago Storm]

ORD got on the board with the first T and first measurable snow of the new season on Saturday night/Sunday morning, with the hybrid storm system that moved through. A whopping 0.1" of snow occurred (Area reports suggest that was probably a few tenths too low).

ORD picked up 1.6" of snowfall last night/this morning, with the lake effect snow event.

Winter 2025/26 Snowfall Totals
1.7" - ORD
1.2" - RFD