Easter Sunday is traditionally viewed as a spring holiday, full of bright colors and blooming flowers, but winter still occasionally makes its presence felt, and could do so again late Sunday and into Monday in the Chicago area.
According to forecast models, clouds are expected to increase throughout the afternoon hours on Sunday, giving way to precipitation late in the day.
That precipitation is expected to start as rain, but there is a chance that it could mix with, and eventually turn into, snow before all is said and done on Monday.
Some areas near, and north of, Interstate 88 could even see up to an inch of snow accumulation, according to forecast models.
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The idea of snow on Easter then begs the question: just how often does it snow in Chicago on Easter, and when was the last time there were snowflakes in the air on the holiday?
According to the National Weather Service, there has been measurable snow on Easter Sunday in Chicago approximately 7% of the time.
Most of the time, that snow has fallen in trace amounts, but there have been a few instances where there has been a lot of snowfall. According to the service, the snowiest Easter the city has seen since record-keeping began came on March 29, 1964, when 7.1 inches of snow were recorded on the holiday.
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As for when the last snowfall in the city occurred on Easter, that came back on April 8, 2007, when trace amounts of snow were recorded at O’Hare International Airport, the official reporting site for the city of Chicago.
Trace amounts of snow were also recorded in 1993 and in 1997, according to data from the National Weather Service.
The last time the city of Chicago saw a measurable snowfall, defined as receiving one-tenth of an inch or more of snow, on Easter came on March 31, 1991, when 0.6 inches of snow fell at O’Hare.
Whether any measurable snowfall will occur on Sunday night in Chicago remains to be seen, but commuters will likely have to allow some extra time to drive to work on Monday, with rain potentially mixing with snow in the early morning hours and causing some travel issues on area roadways.
