How snowy are winters in the suburbs of Chicago? (Buffalo Grove: 2014, live in)

[RJA29]

Winters are going to be less normal, and more extreme. This year we've had a lot of precip, but very little snow. If temps were 15 degrees colder across the board, there would be gigantic piles of snow in every parking lot in the area.

Next year we might get 10 feet - it's going to be increasingly difficult to predict long-term trends.

[deeman7]

Increasingly difficult? Looking at the history of snowfall totals, it looks like it has never been easy to predict long term trends.

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by deeman7

Increasingly difficult? Looking at the history of snowfall totals, it looks like it has never been easy to predict long term trends.

Yeah, let's assume we get little to no more snow this year and just look at the last 10 years. It's all over the place.

Year / Snowfall total
2007-2008---- 60.3
2008-2009---- 52.7
2009-2010---- 54.2
2010-2011---- 57.9
2011-2012---- 19.8
2012-2013---- 30.1
2013-2014---- 82.0
2014-2015---- 50.7
2015-2016---- 31.2
2016-2017---- 10 ?

[awdg]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

Lake effect really doesn't apply in NWI unless you go all the way out to the South Bend area. The Chicago commutable areas in NWI, like Munster, Crown Point, Chesterton and Valpo get about the same 37 inches per year on average. They may have an occasional lake effect storm, but being further south, they get less overall snowfall which keeps them within the same average snowfall.

Michigan City and other Laporte County's area (as well as porter county) get a fair share of Lake effect snow. All these area is along southshore Train line which ends at South BEnd.

[RJA29]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

Yeah, let's assume we get little to no more snow this year and just look at the last 10 years. It's all over the place.

Year / Snowfall total
2007-2008---- 60.3
2008-2009---- 52.7
2009-2010---- 54.2
2010-2011---- 57.9
2011-2012---- 19.8
2012-2013---- 30.1
2013-2014---- 82.0
2014-2015---- 50.7
2015-2016---- 31.2
2016-2017---- 10 ?

My thought is that the outliers (10 inches/ 80 inches) are going to be as normal as the norm (50 inches).

[ChiGal7]

That 2013-2014 winter was brutal! It literally started snowing the week of Thanksgiving and didn't stop until early May. And we're not talking little snow, we're talking blizzard like conditions and heavy heavy snow day in and day out for 6 months. Ugh. I wanted to kill myself! Can't deal with that again.

Which is why this winter has been so awesome with hardly any snow at all! I've been loving it! And I think people who have been complaining about the lack of snow are crazy. This has been a great winter! Mild temps, no snow, perfect!

[mattywo85]

Originally Posted by brianpmcdonnell17

Thanks for the responses. I was able to find online the average snowfall of 35-40 inches, but what about accumulation? In you experience, is there snow on the ground or in the streets on most winter days or is the ground usually completely bare?

The average over a season....sounds about right. In one day, very unlikely. The thing about Chicago is you never know what any weather season will bring. I've been through some winters were it snows everyday, others were it snows once or twice the whole season. It's so hard to tell year by year.

[wjj]

Originally Posted by ChiGal7

That 2013-2014 winter was brutal! It literally started snowing the week of Thanksgiving and didn't stop until early May. And we're not talking little snow, we're talking blizzard like conditions and heavy heavy snow day in and day out for 6 months. Ugh. I wanted to kill myself! Can't deal with that again.

Which is why this winter has been so awesome with hardly any snow at all! I've been loving it! And I think people who have been complaining about the lack of snow are crazy. This has been a great winter! Mild temps, no snow, perfect!

I remember 1977-1978 and 1978-1979. 82 inches followed by 90 inches in back-to-back winters. I remember there were still hills of snow in parking lots in June. Then of course, to follow that up, the early 1980s brought us about 10 days where it was 20 below or more (including 4 days where it was between 25 and 27 below). Real temperature, not wind chill. Remember Christmas Eve 1983? Wind chill of 82 below!

You never know what you are going to get during winter around here.

[JoePO]

Over the longer term (say 30 years), the "normal range" appears to be 25"-45". But since ~2005, the variability has become substantially greater.

[brianpmcdonnell17]

How much would it vary across the metro area? Does the snow melt much faster near the city when compared to the northern suburbs? Also, how do the northern and northwestern suburbs compare? Lastly, is there more snow covered days in NWI or the northern suburbs? I realize NWI gets more snowfall, but it is also warmer.