So far this winter, snow has been fairly hard to come by in the Midwest. One storm brought most of the season’s snowfall to Indianapolis and Ohio in the middle of November. Chicago saw multiple smaller events (mainly less than 1”) during the latter half of November to end up with a fairly active month. December, by comparison, was rather quiet across all areas, even mild at times, with several periods when highs reached into the 40s and 50s.
In Chicago, the first 10 days in November were quite tame, with normal temperatures and just a few rain showers. However, a cold front passing through brought rain on the 11th and paved the way for an arctic plunge of air that resulted in high temperatures plummeting to the 20s and 30s which is 15 - 25 degrees below normal. This cold snap lasted through the 20th with snow showers just about every day resulting in most of the winter’s snowfall up to that point (nearly 2”). Another shorter, cold period around Thanksgiving resulted in nearly an inch of snow and put the monthly total to 2.8” at O’Hare International Airport. The last couple days of the month featured a warm spell and temperatures shooting up to near 50 both days (10 degrees above normal). December, on the other hand, was a very lackluster month. Temperatures ranged around normal (apart from a warm spell in the middle of the month) with minor snow shower events peppered throughout the month.
Indianapolis started off November rather quiet as well. Other than a few light rain events the first part of the month, the city saw fairly dry conditions and normal temperatures. Then the arctic blast hit the region near the 11th resulting in abnormally cold temperatures and 7 straight days of at least a trace of snow. This stretch was highlighted by a low pressure system that resulted in about 2.5 inches of snow in Indianapolis on November 16th. Then a soaker hit from the 23rd – 24th bringing nearly 2.25 inches of rain to the area. Apart from a few snow showers, December saw little in the way of wintry precipitation. A system brought 1.25 inches of rain from the 6th to 7th before the only wintry mix event to note of the month arrived on the 16th with just coatings and patchy ice for most spots. By Christmas, a quick warm spell arrived with temperatures rising into the 50s.
A rain event was the main highlight for the first part of November for Ohio, with Columbus seeing almost a half inch of rain on the 5th- 6th. Then, the historic cold snap that affected the rest of the Midwest had the same effect on Ohio, however this state took the brunt of the storm that moved through between the 16th and the 18th. A wide swath of 4 - 5 inches of snow fell southwest to northeast from Cincinnati to Columbus. See the chart below to learn how this event impacted the Midwest.
Little else happened in November and precipitation events in December primarily resulted in heavy rain. After a decent rain maker on the 5th and 6th, a system brought wintry mix to the region on the 17th, coating up Cincinnati and Columbus with the white stuff.
Overall, the Midwest experienced a fairly subdued start to the winter with limited intrusions of arctic air and several stretches of mild weather. The main event was a low pressure system that coincided with a shot of unseasonably cold air in the middle of November. One of the biggest storylines for December throughout the region ended up being cloud-cover. From Chicago to Columbus there was anywhere between 19-21 cloudy days, most of which occurred during the first three weeks of the month.
In addition, the snow deficit is certainly a highlight of the season thus far. The lead image of the article shows a comparison of snowfall totals from November and December last year to this year. It's easy to see just how drastically different the two winters are to one another.
