Chicago climate trends: Record-low snowfall & rising spring temps
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Snow covers a walkway along the river in the Loop on Feb. 12, 2025. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
In October, the NOAA predicted it was going to be a wet winter in Chicago.
Reality check: That prediction was way off.
Zoom in: Meteorological winter is in the books (ended March 1) and instead of the forecasted 30-45 inches of snow, the Chicago area posted an astoundingly low 11.9 inches.
- To find a winter that dry, you have to go back to the 1930s.
- It's the 10th-lowest snow total in the city's history.
Between the lines: The NOAA predictions of the La Niña storm system dumping snow across the country weren't wrong as places like Atlanta, Dallas and Richmond saw way more snow than usual.
- It just skipped here.
The latest: NOAA is predicting a warmer spring too, which would be consistent with previous years.
Zoom in: Nonprofit climate research and communications organization Climate Central examined 55 years of U.S. temperature data for 241 cities and found that the meteorological spring season of March through May has warmed by a national average of 2.4°F.
- In an analysis released recently, the group found that 97% of the 241 cities analyzed saw a warming trend for the season.
- Four out of every five cities now see at least one more week of warmer-than-average spring days compared to the 1970s.
By the numbers: The cities that have warmed the most since 1970 were Reno, Nev., which has seen average seasonal temperatures spike by 6.8°F, followed by El Paso, Texas at 6.4°F and Las Vegas at a seasonal average temperature increase of 6.1°F.
Yes, but: One region of the U.S. has seen some cooling during spring.
- It stretches from northern Montana into North and South Dakota as well as a sliver of Minnesota.
Between the lines: The spring warming in the U.S. is taking place in tandem with increasing temperatures around the world due to human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.