About One-Third Of Illinois Covered In At Least 10 Inches Of Snow
By John Dodge
CHICAGO (CBS) -- In yet another measure of the severity of this year's winter, about one-third of Illinois is covered in at least 10 inches of snow.
The map above was released by the National Weather Service on Wednesday and shows areas around Chicago and all the way west and north past Rockford have heavy snow cover.
Portions of the state has been covered in snow since early December.
A few days of warmer temperatures and rain in early January melted the snow around Chicago and Northwest Indiana, but the area has been snow packed since then.
As of Sunday, the Chicago area had a snow depth of 13 inches.
That is the most since the Groundhog's Day blizzard in 2011 when 20 inches of snow fell in about one day.
Aside from that, Chicago hasn't had this much snow on the ground since Jan. 5 2001.
Rockford has had at least four inches of snow on the ground for 53 days.
The record is 103 days set in 1979, but the area has a decent chance of climbing to second-place all time (59 days).