I've received several E-Mails and blogger comments about the record that was broken on Friday. During the afternoon several reporters came in and asked: "When was the last time we saw this much snow?" After going through the last five years of snowfall totals, I gave up! I decided to just look at December snows. Low-and-behold, I couldn't find a 10.7" report ANYWHERE.To make sure I wasn't missing something, I called Tim Halbach at the National Weather Service in Chicago. He looked through the official records and came to the same summation: This snowfall was the biggest one-day event in Rockford history.
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL
650 PM CST FRI DEC 1 2006
...RECORD SNOWFALL FOR ROCKFORD...
THE 10.7 INCHES OF SNOW THAT FELL AT THE ROCKFORD AIRPORT WAS NOT
ONLY THE RECORD AMOUNT OF SNOW THAT HAS FALLEN ON THE DATE OF
DECEMBER 1ST, BUT IT WAS ALSO THE HIGHEST ONE DAY SNOWFALL IN
ROCKFORD'S HISTORY FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER. THE PREVIOUS ONE DAY
RECORD WAS 10.6 INCHES THAT FELL ON DECEMBER 15, 1987. SNOWFALL
DATA DATES BACK TO 1906.
HALBACH
Many of you remember the events of 1978, 1987, and 2000 events. While those were 10"+ events, they didn't fall on a single-day...they were stretched out over two to three days.
I've gotten many E-Mails and comments about The Rockford Register Star's report that the snowstorm didn't break any records. Unfortunately, that was incorrect information. When it comes to large-scale events, we must look through a lot of data to prove that a record was broken. It's not as easy as observing a record high or low temperature. In many cases, it takes days to find out if we broke records. I'm glad that we found it, and I continue to search through the records because "Many of the seasons that had early-season snowstorms had above-normal snowfalls for the seasons!" -ERIC
6 comments:
Actually, I think the december 15, 1987 storm if I remember correctly dumped 11+ inches. I remember waking up that morning and couldn't see across the street plus we had lightning and thunder with the storm. I think they called it a "continental bomb" or extratropical cyclone in the midwest. I was in 6th grade and remember it.
i hope we have above normal snowfall all winter long.... ITS BEEN SOOOOO LONG SINCE WEVE GOTTON A GOOD YEAR!!
i live in rockton and i measured 11 inches in my backyard..
hey eric, is their anymore big snows on the way in the next week or two??
Not in the next week or two! However the longer it stays cold, the better likelihood the next storm will produce snow instead of rain. -ERIC
Thanks for taking the time and effort to clarify the record-breaking. I really appreciate this blog and the quick and thorough dissemination of information that it offers. Keep up the good work!
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