Snow Mostly A No-Show In Chicago, So Far
(CBS) – After a snow drought, part of Chicago saw fluffy flakes.
The question remains: Why haven't we had more?
So far this winter season, there has only been seven-tenths of an inch of snow in Chicago, when there should have been more like 8 1/2 inches.
CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot talks with Chicago's National Weather Service to see how those official readings are taken.
NWS meteorologist Richard Castro uses a snow measurement stick on a "snowboard" to see how much snow fell Friday in Romeoville. The answer: only half an inch.
"That's how much we got here and they got even less at O'Hare, continuing the one-inch snow draught," Castro says.
Castro says the month of December was unseasonably warm, which prevented cold air masses from building.
"We've had 307 consecutive days without a subfreezing temperature in Chicago. The record is 308 in 1978," he says.
Compared to Chicago, Castro says one of the biggest weather stunners is the recent 10-plus inches of snowfall in Little Rock, Ark.
He says lakeshore areas, especially Northwest Indiana, will get their share of snowfall Saturday in the form of lake-effect snow.
