March 1 marks the beginning of meteorological spring, which means we can now look back at where winter 2024-25 stacked up in the climate books for Chicago.
Meteorological winter lasts from Dec. 1 through the end of February, so it does not include snow or temperature data from October or November. Let’s start with how much snow we received at O’Hare, since that’s most notable stat this winter.
SNOW BY MONTH:
DECEMBER: 2.4” (-5.2” from average, and lowest since 2024)
JANUARY: 4.6” (-6.7” from average, and lowest since 2018)
FEBRUARY: 4.9” (-5.8” from average, and lowest since 2024)
WINTER TOTAL: 11.9” (-17.7” from average, and lowest since winter 1936-‘37)
The 11.9” of snow is the 10th lowest on record, going back 142 years, and the lowest Chicago has had in 88 years. Remember, this does not include the 2.9” of snow we received November 21, 2024.
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Our total snow so far since October is 14.8”, which currently ranks as the 5th lowest on record for the fall through spring snow season. We still average over 6 inches of snow across the months of March and April.
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURES:
DECEMBER: 38.4° (+1.8° from average)
JANUARY: 29.8° (-1.8° from average)
FEBRUARY: 34.2° (-1.4° from average)
WINTER TOTAL : 34.1° (-0.5° from average)
AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURES:
DECEMBER: 25.7° (+1.3° from average)
JANUARY: 15.5° (-3.3° from average)
FEBRUARY: 20.3° (-1.5° from average)
WINTER AVERAGE LOW: 20.5° (-1.4° from average)
AVERAGE OVERALL TEMPERATURES:
DECEMBER: 32.0° (+1.5° from average)
JANUARY: 22.6° (-2.6° from average)
FEBRUARY: 27.2° (-1.6° from average)
WINTER AVERAGE : 27.3° (-0.9° from average)
The temperatures around Chicago weren’t particularly notable this winter as no daily records were broken. Our coldest morning was Tuesday, Feb. 18 when the temperature dropped to -5°. Some areas, like Aurora and DeKalb, dropped to -11° that morning. The warmest day of the winter was also the final day of the season, with highs of 57° on Friday, Feb. 28.
December was above average and January and February were both below average, but nowhere near monthly records.
