It isn’t all too common for the city of Chicago to see snowfall on Halloween, but residents may not realize just how rare the phenomenon is.
In fact, there are multiple ways in which Tuesday’s snowfall was unique.
According to the National Weather Service, the city reported a total of 0.9 inches of snow accumulation at O’Hare International Airport on Tuesday.
Since recordkeeping began in the 19th century, Tuesday marked just the third Halloween where the city had measurable snowfall, joining 2014 and 2019, according to NWS records.
While the city didn’t quite hit the record of 3.4 inches, Tuesday did mark the second-snowiest Halloween on record for Chicago.
With that in mind, it isn’t shocking to learn that the 0.9 inches of snow were enough to make it one of the snowiest Octobers in recorded history for the city.
According to NWS, that snowfall was enough to make it the 10th-snowiest October that Chicago has seen since at least 1900.
The snowiest October on record came in 1989, when the city recorded 6.3 inches of snow at O’Hare. The second-snowiest occurred recently, with 4.6 inches falling in 2019.
Finally, in a bit of interesting historical coincidence, the city typically sees its first trace of snowfall on Oct. 31, meaning that snowflakes arrived right on time in 2023.
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The city doesn’t usually see its first measurable snowfall until Nov. 18, according to NWS officials.
You can get a full list of snowfall totals from around the area on the NBC Chicago app.
