WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

It is the twelfth of December in the year 2020, and the little girl climbs onto her father's lap and asks, "Daddy, did you ever see snow?"The father laughs."Oh, yes, honey, there used to be lots of snow in Chicago," he says."What happened?" asks the little girl.

Authorities say an 83-year-old Chicago woman was the first cold-related death of the season in Cook County.The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office says a relative found Florence Hawkins unresponsive in her bed.

Some Illinois residents said they were happy to see flakes Thursday as a winter storm dropped the first significant snowfall of the season on the state.The abrupt shift in weather came a day after Rockford recorded a record high temperature of 57 degrees, according to the National Weather Service's

It's been an unseasonably mild winter in Chicago so far.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel launched ChicagoShovels.org on Tuesday, in an effort to encourage residents to participate in winter-preparedness.The new site is being launched with a real-time “Plow Tracker” that allows residents to monitor the progress of the city’s snow plows."

Local forecasters are calling predicted inclement weather "The Big One." To prepare for the winter storm, Eight Forty-Eight compiled a sampling of what local and even national meteorologists are saying about Snowmageddon 2011.Sampled forecasts include those provided by Tim McGill