Dear Tom,
Is there any correlation between a wet August and heavier snow in the following winter?
Nick Recchia, River Grove
Dear Nick,
It’s a frequent question these days, considering the deluges of rain in recent weeks. We turned to the weather records compiled at Midway Airport, and a computer scan of the full 79-year data set (1928-2006) provided a surprise. We defined a “wet August” as one having at least twice the average rainfall, and the scan identified six of them. (This August is the seventh.) The results: The following six winters tended to be snowy. They averaged 45″ versus the long-term expectation of 38″.
The temptation is to proclaim a snowy winter ahead, but beware: It’s a mixed bag. Snowfall in those six winters ranged from 31″ to 82″.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
