Dear Tom,
What is the latest date that snow has fallen in Chicago?
Terri Matyja
Dear Terri,
You might be surprised to learn that snowflakes have flown in the air in Chicago as late in the season as June. Although it was just a trace (that is, no accumulation), snow was officially recorded in the city on June 2, 1910, when the temperature was a chilly and very un-June-like 44 degrees.
Chicago weather historian Frank Wachowski dug into the record books and he tells us the snow–more accurately, wet snowflakes–occurred during a thunderstorm that also brought rain and hail and total precipitation of 0.41 inch on a chilly day, when the maximum and minimum temperatures were 55 and 43 degrees. Virtually all of Chicago’s snow occurs from October through May, but traces of snow have also been recorded in September. That means the city has actually received snow in 10 months of the year, and July and August stand apart as Chicago’s only absolutely snow-free months. ———-
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or: asktomwhy@wgntv.com
Weather Report is prepared by the WGN-TV Weather Center, where Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN 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.
IN THE WEB EDITION: For updated weather news, forecasts by ZIP code and local radar images, go to chicagotribune/weather or wgntv.com




