3/15-3/16 Winter Storm

[Chicago916]

Does Chicago get more snow from this WAA snow than the actual storm? That's the big question lmao

[sbnwx85]

Kind of ripping under this mini band.

[cmillzz]

7 minutes ago, beavis1729 said:

Yeah…outside of the lake effect areas, people don’t realize how bad of a winter this has been. Rockford has only had 6.9” of snow since 12/8, with a max 2” of snow cover…and bare ground during the entire month of February.

I know many of us had two decent storms prior to 12/8, but all of that snow melted by 12/15 or even sooner. 

I don’t care what the total snowfall is compared to climo. It’s a horrible way to gauge the quality of a winter. It has been a horrible winter in northern IL and southern WI. I wish people would just acknowledge that. It’s ok for people to have high standards.

Having a white Christmas would have helped, and I thought it was a lock after having 10” on the ground on 12/5. And a big dog with the current storm would have helped too, although it would melt quickly due to the time of year. But both of these failed by a wide margin. No white Christmas knocks the grade down by two letters all by itself. 

I know people grade winters differently. I like to communicate things by considering the extreme outcomes of a situation, because it adds context.

This is what I mean - some people might argue that our area has 6 months of winter, since it can snow during November-April. That’s technically true, but to me that’s dumb. Just because it can snow during April, it doesn’t mean it’s a wintry month. That approach is a 1 on the “degree of difficulty/level of standards” scale for grading a winter, if you use a 1-10 scale.

On the other extreme, someone else could argue that we don’t have any winter in this area at all, because there is no calendar date on which you can guarantee that it will look and feel like winter outside (meaning cold temps with meaningful snow cover). While late January has the best probability of this occurring, there are some years with warm temps and bare ground at that time of year. That approach would get a 10 on the aforementioned scale. Even I wouldn’t go that extreme, but my approach is probably an 8. This is because, in many (but not all) winters, you can count on 20-40 days (not necessarily consecutive) when it’s cold with meaningful snow cover (say 3”+ so there are no annoying bare spots). In other words, I would say we have about one month of winter. I may be a tough grader, but that’s how it should be  An 8 out of 10, not a crazy outlier  

I’m only pointing this out because, especially on a weather forum like this, it would be more fun and there would be better camaraderie if we all fell in the 7-10 range on this scale. But I think most of this forum falls into the 2-4 range on the scale…which I think is unfortunate. Just like your favorite sports team, I like having high standards for winter, whether or not it’s logical. 

I know this post is OT, but missing out on the current storm was the last straw, plus I’m not able to chase it due to other priorities. 

Anyway, I hope the good folks up north post a lot of pictures. 

Yeah, it’s been almost as bad as last winter for N Illinois. Chicago barely saw an inch of snow in February, kind of pathetic tbh.

[Chicago Storm]

Does Chicago get more snow from this WAA snow than the actual storm? That's the big question lmao

no.

[OrdIowPitMsp]

Ground is dusted, snow getting steadier. Here we go!

[Chicago Storm]

Yeah, it’s been almost as bad as last winter for N Illinois. Chicago barely saw an inch of snow in February, kind of pathetic tbh.

lol, no.

[Sciascia]

New hi-res NAM expectedly cutting back on the double digit totals from 12z for NW IL

[DocATL]

lol, no.

In their defense, Chicago did barely see an inch of snow in February…and through today. But last winter was worse…which is sad if you love snow.

[Baum]

Seen a lot February’s come up lame on the snow front through the years. Not new. To get back on topic have also seen a lot of these March defo bands with these deep big cyclones surprise on the back end snow front as well through the years. Really don’t want zero windchills with 40 mph winds and a coating come Monday. 

[sbnwx85]

Picked up a surprise inch of snow. Season total at 76.5”.

[ILSNOW]

Image

 

[Met1985]

Holy smokes this looks like one hell of a storm. Kind of reminds me of the Blizzard up in Wisconsin about 7 or 8 years ago.

[Imneversatisfied]

Will someone please post the 18z FRAM? 

[Baum]

18 minutes ago, ILSNOW said:

Image

 

If only