Dear Tom,
Everyone is talking about the 50th anniversary of the January 1967 “big snow.” Wasn’t there another significant snowstorm shortly after that?
— Paul Kichner
Dear Paul,
There was. It occurred the evening of Feb. 23, 1967, less than one month after Chicago’s 23-inch “big snow.” It was a true blizzard accompanied by thunder and lightning, walloping the city with 4 inches of snow in just two hours and 15 minutes. There were frequent whiteouts as the visibility dropped to near zero, and winds gusted to 47 mph and the temperature hovered near 15 degrees. Winds gusted to 82 mph at Ogden Dunes in northwest Indiana. Snowstorms of this intensity are rare in Chicago, but occur more often in Great Plains blizzards and major lake-effect snow events along the south and east shores of the Great Lakes. Thunder and lightning are frequent companions for snow intense enough to cause a whiteout.
