While this winter’s snowfall in the Chicago area has been backloaded into February and March, the National Weather Service reminds residents that snowfall in March is not unusual around here.

 

In Chicago, normal March snowfall is 5.6 inches and the seasonal normal is 36.7 inches, meaning about 15 percent of Chicago’s snow falls in March, according to the weather service.

 

Since 1886, when the first snowfall records were recorded, there have been 45 snowstorms that produced at least 10 inches of snow in Chicago, the weather service said. Six of these, or 13 percent, were in March. The largest March snowstorm in city history was 19.2 inches on March 25-26, 1930. It was the 5th biggest storm in Chicago history.

 

Tuesday’s storm produced, as of midnight Tuesday night, 9.2 inches of snow at O’Hare Airport, according to the weather service. That is the biggest March snow in Chicago in a calendar day since 11.5 inches fell on March 2, 1954, according to the weather service. It also marks the most snow in the month of March since 11.2 inches fell in March 2002.

 

Other area snowfall totals for Tuesday’s storm include: 11.8 inches in Homer Glen, 11.7 inches in Yorkville, 11.3 inches in Orland Park, 8.5 inches in Oak Park, 10.5 inches in Valparaiso, Ind.; 11.5 inches in Merrillville, Ind.; and 9 inches in Crown Point, Ind.

 

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