Dear Tom,
It seems that we’ve had rain or snow several times a week this winter. What’s the longest period that we’ve gone without precipitation since Dec. 1?
— Dave Ebel
Dear Dave,
Chicago has indeed experienced a winter marked by frequent bouts of precipitation. After gathering the data, the results surprised even us.
Since the beginning of meteorological winter on Dec. 1, the longest period here without any precipitation has been just two days, and that has occurred on three occasions. The two-day dry periods were Dec. 18 and 19, Jan. 3 and 4 and Feb. 23 and 24. Eliminating days with trace events of rain or snow, the string of days without measurable precipitation increases only to four and that has happened just three times: from Jan. 2-5, Feb. 21-24 and just recently from March 4-7.
For the entire 101-day Dec. 1-March 10 period, there have only been 22 days that have not had any rain or snow.
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