Dear Tom,
What is the deepest snowpack ever recorded in Chicago?
— Matt Downing, Palatine
Dear Matt,
Chicago’s record-tying nine consecutive days of measurable snow earlier this month transformed a brown, barren winter landscape into a picturesque snow-covered one with area snowpacks building to more than 20 inches in some locations. However, the area’s all-time deepest snowpack of 29 inches occurred on Jan. 14, 1979, in the wake of the city’s infamous “Blizzard of ’79” that produced 20.3 inches of snow. The snowpack remained robust for more than a month, fluctuating between 19 and 27 inches through Feb. 22. After that, welcome early-spring warming ensued, quickly melting the snow, with the snow cover finally dwindling to a trace on March 5 after a record 100 days with at least 1 inch of snow dating back to Nov. 26.
