What kind of winter has it been

The National Weather Service Chicago office released its report on the 2024-25 winter today, the first day of meteorological spring. Highlights:

• Average temperature: -2.6°C (0.4°C below normal)
• Total snowfall: 302 mm (450 mm below normal, 10th least snowiest)
• Total precipitation: 113 mm (42 mm below normal)

They go on:

At Chicago, the average high temperature was 34.1 degrees, which is 0.5 degrees below normal. The average low temperature was 20.5 degrees, which is 1.1 degrees below normal. The mean average temperature for the season was 27.3 degrees, which is 0.8 degrees below normal. 4.43 inches of liquid precipitation were recorded, which is 1.64 inches below normal. 11.9 inches of snow were recorded, which is 17.7 inches below normal.

Daily and top ten monthly records established for Chicago this past winter...

• December: None
• January: None
• February: None

The following top ten seasonal records were set for Chicago this past winter:
** 10th least snowiest winter on record with 11.9 inches of snow.

In other words, an average winter for the cold but a very mild winter for the snow. Nothing too extreme, nothing too nice, nothing too awful.

NCDC predicts a fairly average spring, starting with a fairly normal storm bearing down on us this week. Because it wouldn't be early March without a reminder that our weather doesn't get consistently nice until June.