NOAA

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

Chicago, IL

Search for:   NWS All NOAA

• Home
• Site Map
• News
• Organization

The winter of 2007-2008 will go down as one of the wettest and snowiest winters on record at both Chicago and Rockford, as well as across much of the midwest. Here’s how the numbers break down at Rockford and Chicago...

Here are the snowiest seasons on record...

Record Snowiest Seasons In Chicago

Years	Snowfall Total
1)  1978-1979	89.7"
2)  1977-1978	82.3"
3)  1969-1970	77.0"
4)  1966-1967	68.4"
5)  1951-1952	66.4"
6)  1917-1918	64.1"
7)  1964-1965	59.5"
1903-1904	59.5"
9)  1981-1982	59.3"
10) 1961-1962	58.9"
18) 2007-2008	52.4"

 

Record Snowiest Seasons in Rockford

Years	Snowfall Total
1)  1978-1979	74.5"
2)  2007-2008	66.1"
3)  1942-1943	61.0"
4)  1974-1975	58.2"
5)  1925-1926	56.7"
6)  1911-1912	55.9"
7)  1959-1960	55.2"
8)  1958-1959	54.9"
9)  1951-1952	54.7"
10) 1935-1936	53.8"

 

Here are the snowiest winters (Dec-Feb) on record...

Chicago’s Snowiest Winters

Years	Snowfall Total
1)  1978-1979	80.6"
2)  1977-1978	71.2"
3)  1917-1918	59.9"
4)  1966-1967	58.1"
5)  1973-1974	54.2"
6)  2007-2008	52.1"
7)  1961-1962	50.0"
8)  1884-1885	48.0"
9)  1885-1886	47.3"
10) 1907-1908	45.8"

 

Rockford’s Snowiest Winters

Years	Snowfall Total
1)  2007-2008	65.1"
2)  1978-1979	63.4"
3)  1993-1994	49.9"
4)  1909-1910	48.9"
5)  1973-1974	47.3"
6)  1917-1918	46.4"
7)  1935-1936	42.8"
8)  1942-1943	41.0"
9)  1987-1988	40.3"
10) 1977-1978	40.2"

 

Here are the snowiest Februarys on record...

Record Snowiest Februarys in Chicago

Year	Snowfall Total
1)  1896	27.8"
2)  1994	26.2"
3)  1900	22.6"
4)  1967	22.5"
5)  2008	21.8"
6)  1901	21.1"
7)   2007	20.3"
8)  1908	19.8"
9)  1978	19.7"
10) 1903	19.5"

 

Record Snowiest Februarys in Rockford

Year	Snowfall Total
1)  1994	30.2"
2)  2008	25.8"
3)  1944	21.8"
4)  1975	21.4"
5)  1960	19.5"
6)  1936	18.0"
7)  1912	15.8"
8)  1946	15.5"
9)  1974	15.1"
1962	15.1"

 

Here are the wettest winters on records...

Chicago’s Wettest Winters

Years	Precipitation Total
1)  1949-1950	13.79"
2)  1895-1896	11.36"
3)  1982-1983	11.28"
4)  1886-1887	9.99"
5)  1875-1876	9.74"
6)  1973-1974	9.67"
7)  1873-1874	9.42"
8)  1884-1885	9.40"
9)  2007-2008	8.94"
10) 1979-1980	8.91"
11) 1959-1960	8.89"

 

Rockford’s Wettest Winters

Years	Precipitation Total
1)  1945-1946	10.38"
2)  1959-1960	9.19"
3)  1942-1943	8.76"
4)  1936-1937	8.69"
5)  1973-1974	8.52"
6)  2007-2008	7.47"
7)  2000-2001	7.26"
8)  1987-1988	7.02"
9)  1914-1915	6.82"
10) 1992-1993	6.68"

 

Here are the wettest Februarys on record...

Wettest Chicago Februarys

Year	Precipitation Total
1)  1881	5.98"
2)  1997	5.56"
3)  1887	5.10"
4)  1883	4.74"
5)  1876	3.90"
6)  1909	3.84"
7)  1908	3.72"
8)  2008	3.52"
1896	3.52"
10) 1896	3.48"

 

Wettest Rockford Februarys

Year	Precipitation Total
1) 1944	3.32"
2) 1908	3.20"
3) 2008	3.05"
4) 2001	3.05"
5) 1994	3.04"
6) 1911	2.95"
7) 1915	2.88"
8) 1997	2.83"
9) 1925	2.68"
10) 1971	2.67"

 

Here are some graphics showing approximate precipitation totals for the winter months across the midwest...

The map shows that all of northern Illinois picked up more than 8 inches of precipitation during the 90 day period ending in late February, with portions of east central Illinois into northwest Indiana picking up more than 15 inches of precipitation!

Here’s a map showing the departure from normal precipitation for the same period...

 

Notice that a swatch of the area from Bloomington through Iroquois county into northwest Indiana saw rainfall more than 8 inches above average during the past 3 months!

* = indicates that precipitation and snowfall totals are preliminary and only include precipitation that has fallen through February 26th.

Return to News Archive

---