A season that wasted no time

The first meaningful snows of 2025–26 arrived with more grit than grace. Side streets turned slushy, corners iced up and, notably, protected bike lanes became a flashpoint. "CDOT crews have been deployed across the city since Monday morning and are rotating through designated routes as quickly as possible," said Bill Higgins, CDOT’s assistant commissioner for intergovernmental affairs, according to Axios Chicago. Yet several days after the storm, roughly 70 miles of protected lanes remained clogged by windrows and ruts, Axios Chicago reported. Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) put it bluntly: "You should not have to complain for your bike lanes to be cleared," said Daniel La Spata, Alderman (1st).

The early scramble is a reminder that Chicago’s winters don’t need to be epic to be disruptive — and that our snowfall often arrives in fits and starts.

What the numbers say

Chicago tracks snow seasons from July through the following June, not strictly by calendar year. The long-term seasonal normal is 38.4 inches, according to National Weather Service. The historical bookends underscore how wide the swings can be: the winter of 1978–79 piled up a record 89.7 inches, while 1920–21 brought just 9.8 inches, per National Weather Service.

Those benchmarks threw last winter into sharp relief. The 2024–25 meteorological winter — the three-month span from December through February — produced 11.9 inches, the least snowy such period since 1936–37, according to Chicago Sun-Times. When measured across the full July–June season, 2024–25 ended with 17.6 inches, well below the norm, data from National Weather Service shows. The two figures reflect different clocks: meteorological winter captures the core cold months; the seasonal tally counts every flake from first to last.

A quick snapshot of Chicago’s snowfall yardsticks:

A below-average year doesn’t equal a trend

If last winter felt like a break, climate records caution against reading too much into a single season. Analysis from the Illinois State Climatologist finds that Chicago’s snowfall shows substantial year-to-year variability, without a clear long-term increase or decrease in total seasonal accumulation since the early 20th century. In practical terms, that means a stretch of lean winters can be followed by a blockbuster season — and vice versa — even as the long-term average holds steady.

That rising variability also helps explain why the city can see disruptive early-season bursts, like this year’s, even on the heels of a historically quiet winter. The timing and distribution of storms matter as much as the final seasonal total: a handful of well-placed systems can snarl commutes, stress operations and shape perceptions of the season, regardless of how the ledger closes in June.

City response and life on the streets

Snowfall is not merely a meteorological talking point; it’s a transportation and equity issue in a city of nearly 2.7 million people. Chicago’s population tops 2.7 million residents, according to U.S. Census QuickFacts, and how swiftly the city clears streets, sidewalks and bike lanes shapes daily life across neighborhoods.

The early-December storm highlighted the tension. Axios Chicago reported that CDOT prioritized arterial streets while bike-lane clearing lagged, in part because snow storage and specialized equipment complicate operations. The department’s promise to keep rotating crews “as quickly as possible,” as Higgins said in the moment, speaks to the sheer logistics involved. La Spata’s admonition underscored a growing expectation that the bike network — like bus routes and major thoroughfares — should be treated as essential transportation in winter.

What to watch as 2025–26 unfolds

The early activity has put 2025–26 on the board, but the story of the season will be told over months, not weeks. The city’s benchmark — 38.4 inches — remains the measuring stick, and the past year’s pairing of a scant meteorological winter and a modest July–June total sets up an obvious question: Does Chicago bounce back toward average, or string together another light year? Long-term records suggest either outcome is plausible, given the pronounced year-to-year swings described by the Illinois State Climatologist.

In the meantime, the practical lessons are already clear. Operations will be judged as much by where and when the snow falls as by how much. The city’s response — from arterials to protected bike lanes — will continue to shape the winter experience for millions, even if the season ultimately ends far from the extremes etched in the record books by National Weather Service.

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