After Saturday morning came and went without a measurable snowfall at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, it is all but inevitable that the city is going to set an incredible new record this week.
According to the National Weather Service, the latest first measured snowfall of the season was recorded on Dec. 20, 2012, and with dry weather in the forecast in the coming days, it appears that the city will blow past that mark this week.
Saturday represented the last, best chance at hitting that first measurable snowfall for the city, but the weather system came and went without dropping one-tenth of an inch of snow in Chicago, paving the way for the remarkable new record to be set.
According to the National Weather Service, the average first snowfall of the season occurs on Nov. 18, making the city more than a month overdue for some snowfall.
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Unfortunately for snow lovers, it doesn’t appear that the city will receive any of the white stuff any time soon. According to forecast models, the next real chance for precipitation isn’t expected until Christmas Eve, and even when that arrives, it will come in the form of rain, not snow, due to warmer-than-average temperatures before the holiday.
According to extended forecast models, Chicago isn’t expected to receive any snow for at least the next 10 days, meaning that the first snow of the season may not actually occur until 2022.
The next weather record that could be in reach for Chicago would arrive on Jan. 25. That marks the latest date that the city has recorded its first snowfall of at least one inch, with that record having been set in Jan. 2013.
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Just in case you're curious, the last measureable snowfall in Chicago occurred on March 15, meaning that we've gone more than nine months without a single snowfall of at least one-tenth of an inch.
