February snowfall is inching up to a record high

February 8, 2011

Emily Wilensky

(WBEZ/Emily Wilensky)
Snow fills up a walkway connecting to one of Chicago's many alleys.

February in Chicago—okay, you’d expect a lot of snow. But this year we're almost at the record. The February snowfall record was set in 1896 when the city got almost 28 inches. So far this year we've had about 26. Richard Castro is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He said it's too soon to put away the shovels.

“After all, it is February and things could change right back to where they’ve been for most of the winter season, which is cold and snowy,” he said.” “We still have plenty of time for the rest of the month to get that 1.8 inches of snow to tie, and if we get two inches we break the record.”

Castro says there's no snow expected right now. He says it's likely temperatures will drop below zero over the next few days. But he says after that we can expect temperatures above freezing for the rest of the week. Castro says snowfall may be above average this year for February, but it’s on par for average snowfall for the season, which stretches from December to February. So far 53.3 inches have been recorded at O’Hare since December.