Dear Tom,
What is Chicago’s all-time greatest lake-effect snowfall?
Robert Mitchell Chicago
Dear Robert,
Chicago seldom gets a major, pure lake-effect snowfall. It is much more common for the city to receive lake-enhanced snowfall in conjunction with an organized system. Last weekend’s snow event was a perfect example. Areas in southeast Cook County and northwest Indiana accumulated up to 8 more inches of snow than the rest of the area. We checked with Chicago weather historian Frank Wachowski who informed us that one of the greatest lake-effect snow events in the city’s history occurred on December 19, 1973. On that day 5-12″ of snow accumulated in Chicago proper, but that same set-up brought a much larger snowfall ranging up to two feet along Lake Michigan’s west shore from Lake County, Illinois to near Green Bay.
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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.
