Snowfall Trends in Illinois

Statewide snowfall records start in 1902. The period from the 1960s to the early 1980s were the snowiest in recorded history. Snowfall amounts have dropped steeply since then and the years in the last two decades have frequently been below the 1902-2006 average.

Note: the red line is a 5-year moving average to filter out some of the year-to-year variability. Snowfall is accumulated from July 1 of year #1 to June 30 of year #2. The second year is used in the plot and table (for example, 2006 refers to the 2005-2006 season).

Snowfall Data

Snowfall data by year in inches.

1902    13.9
1903    20.3
1904    26.4
1905    24.1
1906    23.2
1907    13.2
1908    22.9
1909    15.9
1910    28.4
1911    13.8
1912    39.5
1913    16.6
1914    26.0
1915    22.1
1916    23.7
1917    13.8
1918    34.6
1919    13.4
1920    11.6
1921     9.4
1922    11.0
1923    12.9
1924    23.2
1925    13.7
1926    28.0
1927    22.6
1928    11.5
1929    16.7
1930    30.9
1931    13.9
1932    13.0
1933    19.7
1934    18.0
1935    12.1
1936    26.2
1937    15.1
1938    12.4
1939    21.6
1940    23.5
1941    17.6
1942    18.7
1943    26.7
1944    19.0
1945    24.4
1946    18.7
1947    18.0
1948    21.4
1949    13.1
1950    11.0
1951    29.0
1952    30.6
1953    14.9
1954    11.5
1955    18.3
1956    19.0
1957    17.1
1958    14.8
1959    21.2
1960    38.6
1961    17.4
1962    30.6
1963    17.9
1964    26.8
1965    33.6
1966     9.9
1967    19.8
1968    18.0
1969    14.6
1970    31.7
1971    13.2
1972    20.2
1973    13.1
1974    31.2
1975    27.3
1976    20.5
1977    25.9
1978    44.4
1979    44.5
1980    19.8
1981    16.5
1982    32.6
1983    11.0
1984    30.9
1985    19.8
1986    17.8
1987    15.7
1988    19.2
1989    17.1
1990    15.7
1991    17.5
1992    11.0
1993    24.4
1994    22.6
1995     9.8
1996    18.1
1997    20.5
1998    15.8
1999    21.0
2000    14.5
2001    22.2
2002    12.1
2003    18.9
2004    13.4
2005    14.0
2006    13.7
2007    18.1