December 2025 General Discussion

[SchaumburgStormer]

Impressive fog out here, visibilities under 100 ft in places. 

[A-L-E-K]

32 minutes ago, SchaumburgStormer said:

Impressive fog out here, visibilities under 100 ft in places. 

Jelly

[SchaumburgStormer]

Some of the more impressive fog I have ever seen. Was in a turn lane and could not see the stop light until I was at the line, so well under 50 ft. 

[sbnwx85]

Impressive squall line by December standards in Illinois rn

[sbnwx85]

11 minutes ago, SchaumburgStormer said:

Some of the more impressive fog I have ever seen. Was in a turn lane and could not see the stop light until I was at the line, so well under 50 ft. 

I drove through fog like that once after a big snow in Jan. 2008. Temps shot into the 50’s with a foot of snow on the ground. Visibility had to be 25 feet on State Road 2 and I wasn’t sure if I should maintain the speed limit and risk plowing into a stopped vehicle or slow down and risk getting hit from behind. It only lasted about five miles but that was scary af

[DocATL]

Feels like spring storms should be on the way.

With tulips to follow

[michsnowfreak]

Snow has melted except some piles and patches (patches will be gone by later). First time the ground is bare since November 28th. Not a fan. But not unexpected.

Fun fact...this is my 31st winter measuring snow. The season with the most days with 1"+ snowcover was 2013-14 with 96 days and the least was 2023-24 with 18 days. The average is around 50 days. So far in 2025-26, I have 21 days, meaning I surpassed 2023-24 before the Winter Solstice. 

[Powerball]

On 12/16/2025 at 2:51 PM, michsnowfreak said:

He doesn't consider 6-9" a big storm lol

I'm pretty sure when he says "big snow," he's specifically talking about a big dog (which the bare minimum to qualify IMO, outside the mountains and eastward-facing snow belts, would be 12").

That's just my ha'penny of a contribution to the pedantic conversation as merely an observer from halfway across the country...

[Powerball]

On 12/16/2025 at 11:53 AM, Stevo6899 said:

Thnk goodness its gonna be avg the rest of the year. Gotta have warmer temps to get the big snows.

 

Not necesssarily warmer temps, but a baroclinic zone with an extreme temp gradient for good forcing/instability and (more importantly) an upper flow that's not hauling ass, so that troughs have enough time to dig & close off.

[Chicago Storm]

Solid sunset a short time ago at ORD…

[Chicago Storm]

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.

[Chambana]

Tagged 50 today, the snowpack got completely nuked, the snowstorms are already a distant memory.  The next big headline will be just how warm Christmas Day gets. Mid to upper 60’s?

[cyclone77]

We had blowing fog here this morning.  Don't think I've ever seen that before.  There were waves of dense fog whipping horizontally with the gusty south winds over the remaining snow cover.  Thought it was blowing snow at first until I realized what it was.

All the snow is gone here now, other than piles.

Rain mixed with wet snow right at the end.  Picked up 0.19" of rain.

[frostfern]

3 hours ago, Powerball said:

I'm pretty sure when he says "big snow," he's specifically talking about a big dog (which the bare minimum to qualify IMO, outside the mountains and eastward-facing snow belts, would be 12").

That's just my ha'penny of a contribution to the pedantic conversation as merely an observer from halfway across the country...

A true big dog should have at least a small 16”+ jackpot, and 12”+ in a good chunk of backyards.  Many times the jackpot will be dismissed if it isn’t over Chicago or Detroit though.

[Chinook]

1 hour ago, Chicago Storm said:

Solid sunset a short time ago at ORD…

The sun is now burning the other side of the Earth! So terrible for them.

[RogueWaves]

On 12/16/2025 at 4:05 PM, michsnowfreak said:

I didnt say he isn't, just pointing that out. GHD1 was still a big storm here...it just failed to reach expectations in SE MI. Actually boggles my mind that this bust is still talked about with everything thats happened in the 15 years since. Its not like we expected 3 feet and got 0, we expected 12-18" and got 8-11"  GHDII (16.7" DTW) and Jan 22 2005 (12.2") were huge storms at Detroit with plenty of arctic air around...to say nothing of the insanity of Jan 6, 2014. Following nearly 11" of snow temps dropped to -14° in hours.

Jan '99 prolly belongs on that list as well.