Nice to finally break that 2" snow drought in DEC for Chicago...my youngest niece enjoyed the snowy scenery on the way to school Friday morning!

Another very solid AI run on the 0z.

Yeah, but number of days with snow on the ground is a very big deal to most people. I remember getting nearly a foot of snow in December 1974 when an AR transitioned to snow. Of course the greatest of all time in that regard is December 1924. Full blown pineapple express overtaken by an Arctic blast which produced widespread 6 to 12 inch accumulations followed by a long period of very cold weather.

The nearby SNOTEL only getting down to 31°F that day confirms it's illegitimate.

Didn't that happen to a much more dramatic extent down there in Dec 2022? I recall places rapidly dropping from warm 40s rain to mid 20s with snow down there in that event.