The winter of 2015 - 2016 thus far has featured extremes in nearly all categories. Right from the start, Mother Nature brought the Midwest one of the largest snowfall events ever in November with over a foot of snow measured throughout northern Chicagoland and even an impressive record of 11.2 inches at O'Hare. Ironically, such an event occurred in a November that was already on track to be the warmest and wettest on record. Record warmth continued into December and Mother Nature hit the brakes on the winter events, leaving many with a December among the top 5 least snowiest on record. Once we welcomed 2016, the pattern changed and we encountered more frequent snow threats through the middle of the January. The major cities of Ohio including Columbus and Cincinnati even experienced the first measurable snowfall of the winter on January 10th which ranks as the all-time latest and second latest first measurable snow on record, respectively. The pattern turned less active by the end and the month ended with a 3 - 5 inch snow deficit across the Midwest.
A pattern shift occurred once again in February with wintry events returning to the region. While Chicago and Indianapolis finished once again with snow deficits, those in Ohio ended up on the other end of the spectrum with a surplus of 2 - 4 inches. However, the Midwest as a whole continued the warm trend of the winter and closed out with above normal temperatures running 3 - 5 degrees above normal. See the graphs below for a closer look at the temperature anomalies of the winter and a comparison of this winter's snowfall to last winter and to normal.
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