ON THE GUST FRONT: Blizzard of 2011 !

This is a work in progress and more info, pictures and links will be added over the next couple days..
This Storm which was forecasted well in advance was quite the storm ! I used to think the '79 Blizzard was the greatest..this was even greater !
Although the 27" snow depth then however and the drifts and mountains of snow of that season (74.5" ) overall were unsurpassed to anything I have ever seen around here.

Total Snowfall was 15.1" thus making it the 3rd on the all time list !

1. 16.3 inches on January 6 - 7, 1918

2. 16.0 inches on March 30 – 31, 1926
3. 15.1 inches Jan -31- Feb 2.
This storm was very impressive and amazing in just about every aspect.
The 1967 storm which hit Chicago didn't really affect Rockford nearly as much. In any event this storm moved in from the west coast and moved into Texas..As it did it it drew up copious amounts of moisture and with Arctic air of to the Northwest it was a perfect set up for a developing intense low pressure. As it moved Northeast powerful upper level winds devleoped as well as Heavy Snow. Thus blowing and drifting were significant. In N. IL. as drifts over 3-6' were reported. Due to strong lift thundersnow was reported all over N.IL with snowfall rates 2-3" hr.
Wind gusts were recorded to 48mph here at RFD, 61mph at O'hare and 70 on the lake front...A report was received of a 77mph at DBQ IA. during the heavy snow...

Although we fell just 2 inches short of an all time record for most us this was thee historic storm for Rockford..Not sure what kind of drifts we had in 1918 or 1932 . 2" more inches of snow wouldnt have made it too much more worse then it was.. Nevertheless top 4 in all time and within 2" is incredibly close.

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