A winter storm sweeping through the southern U.S. this week dumped snow at levels many in those regions have never seen before, but how does it compare to Chicago? The answer is surprising.
Tuesday’s rare snowfall set a record in New Orleans, where 10 inches fell in some places, far surpassing its record of 2.7 inches set Dec. 31, 1963, the National Weather Service said.
It appeared Florida had broken its state snowfall record of 4 inches, set in Milton on March 6, 1954. The NWS' Mobile office said Pensacola had gotten 5 inches.
Mobile, Alabama, hit 5.4 inches, topping the city’s one-day snowfall record of 5 inches, set Jan. 24, 1881, and nearing its all-time snowfall record of 6 inches in 1895, the weather service said.
Those numbers are higher than Chicago's entire winter season so far.
"Some parts of the south have seen more snow than Chicago has seen all season long," NBC 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Alicia Roman said Wednesday.
According to the NWS, the city of Chicago receives an average of 11.3 inches of snow during the month of January, making it the snowiest month of the year.
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This year however, the city of Chicago is tracking well below that threshold, having reported just 3.9 inches of snow at O’Hare International Airport.
It is also a far cry from the 16.1 inches of snow the city saw in January 2024, according to NWS historical data.
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If the city stays around its current snowfall levels, it will be the lowest amount of snowfall recorded in the month of January since only 0.6 inches fell during January 2017.
For those curious, the snowiest January on record in Chicago occurred in 1918, when the city saw 42.2 inches of accumulation.
While the south continues to grapple with its measurable snowfall, some snow is falling on Chicago, but not nearly to those levels.
Scattered snow showers were reported in the Chicago area Wednesday morning, with more light snow expected to fall throughout the day, the NBC 5 Storm Team said.
Accumulations of between one and one-and-a-half inches of snow were possible, Roman said, before snow gradually comes to an end Wednesday night.
