CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- More snow is expected to hit Chicago by Wednesday evening. Will it be enough to break records?
In the last three weeks, 34.1 inches of snow fell on O’Hare Airport, making it the snowiest stretch since the historic 1978-1979 winter, according to the weather service.
Additionally, Chicago has a record-tying nine days of snow. And, if the city gets another tenth of an inch before midnight, it will break the 10 consecutive days of snowfall record set back in 1943.
Less than an inch of snow was expected to fall Wednesday evening, according to the National Weather Service. A 50 percent chance of snow in the afternoon increases to 60 percent in the evening.
“Light snow will start later this afternoon spreading from the south towards the north, with light accumulations possible,” according to a hazardous weather outlook from the National Weather Service.
Light snow showers could continue into Thursday morning, with lake effect snow possible closer to the lakefront, according to the National Weather Service.
If snow does fall Wednesday, it will break the city’s record for most consecutive days with snow. The record, set in 1884, is nine days. But Chicago’s on pace to see 11 consecutive days of snow if it falls both Wednesday and Thursday.
Accuweather Meteorologist Dean Devore said winter was slow to get started, in terms of snow, but the Chicago area is now above average.
"And indeed a real flip here, we saw that coming. We were talking about that January thaw and the displacement of the polar vortex, and then the questions were, where was that polar air headed? ...We really got this massive one that just pushed down last week, at the beginning of the week and that's what created these amazing snow storms that we have had," Devore said.
O’Hare has had just over 44 inches, which is 18 inches above the roughly 26 inches the area would normally have at this point.
"Last year at this point, we were right around normal at 25.2 (inches), but yeah the incredible thing is just how much snow we picked up. This has been a combination of a couple of storms, including some lake effect near the lake itself and that storm on top of it. So as we stand right now over two feet of snow in some areas in on the ground and that's the most we have had in 10 years," Devore said.
The city sees an average of about 36 inches of snow for the entire winter.
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