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Some people might think I'm crazy to make this post. But, I personally don't think Chicago gets much snow. Now, stay with me here. I am not saying Chicago winters aren't oppressive. They are. But, you'd think with how COLD it gets here, we would get significantly more snow than some Northeastern cities like NYC or Boston. We only get slightly more snow than NYC, but less than Boston. Neither of these cities has gotten as cold as often as we do. What gives?
In fact, Chicago gets on average 7 more inches of snow per year than Baltimore (4.5 hours south), yet our yearly average is around 10 degrees cooler. Similarly, we get about just 2 more inches of snow than Indianapolis on average yet they are in a warmer plant hardiness zone.
What is to explain this weirdness? I have some theories.
Neighboring cities get more snow than we do despite being in the same climate zone and same latitude. My guess is the urban heat island effect is much smaller. Also, our westerly location on the lake means most lake effect snow is blown eastward. The other effect of this lake near us means that a warming effect happens, and by the time snow does form, it already was blown East so we wouldn't be affected much. The same weather systems that cause snow to go East also cause us to be in right place at the right time for it not to hit us.
My other theory is that the cities of the Bos-Wash corridor are in a location prone to air masses off the Atlantic that cause Nor'easters. Similarly, Indianapolis has no warming effect of a large Lake nor does it have the warming effect of so many millions of people in a smaller area.
My above theories are why Chicago gets such little snow despite its latitude and bitter cold temperatures. But I don't know much about weather science, so I'm wondering if experts can chime in here.
Chicago averages 37" of snow in winter, Baltimore averages 20". That's a big difference.
Chicago is on the wrong side of the Great Lakes to get the lake-enhanced snows, and Baltimore is in a better position for mega-snowstorms (Nor'Easters).
Hmmm I was under the impression Chicago averaged 27 inches. My source (that I can't link to here) must be way off then. If that's the case, Chicago is significantly snowier than NYC and just a bit less snowy than Boston. But Boston isn't as cold and their plant hardiness zone is a bit on the warmer side than ours.
Chicago is on the wrong side of the Great Lakes to get the lake-enhanced snows, and Baltimore is in a better position for mega-snowstorms (Nor'Easters).
Speaking of this... Check out this mornings situation..
Atmospheric flow (the way radar is moving) is in direction of the arrows which shows Chicago on the wrong side of it. Nice to have a visual and good timing with the post.
Surface winds are actually out of the SouthSW but winds aloft are not favoring Chicago for Lake Effect snows. However the other side are getting Lake Effect snows right now especially bit north more..
You can also see why the UP Michigan gets a lot of Lake Snows too. Flow off Superior supports it.
Chicago is on the wrong side of Lake Michigan to receive "lake-effect snow" that upstate New York is infamous for. See Buffalo for details..
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