- - On Today's Date: Chicago's Second Heaviest Snowstorm Rang In 1999

Jonathan ErdmanJanuary 2, 2026 at 6:00 AM

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A major snowstorm isn't in the cards to welcome 2026.

But on Jan. 2, 1999, 27 years ago today, parts of the upper Midwest and eastern Canada were in the throes of a blizzard that would dump up to 28 inches of snow in Lower Michigan.

In Chicago, what was already a disruptive snowstorm was boosted by winds flowing off Lake Michigan, enhancing snowfall and gusting up to 50 mph, producing blizzard conditions along the lakeshore.

O'Hare Airport totaled 21.6 inches of snow from Jan. 1-3, its second heaviest snowstorm on record behind only the historic Jan. 26-27, 1967, blizzard's 23-inch total. The 18.6 inches that fell on Jan. 2, alone, remains the city's heaviest calendar-day snowfall on record.

While this storm was spread out over several days of a holiday weekend, its impacts were disruptive. For the first time, Chicago's Lake Shore Drive was shut down by the storm. Hundreds of flights were canceled throughout the region, including 300 flights at both Midway and O'Hare Airports.

The storm was immediately followed by an Arctic cold outbreak that set the all-time cold record for the state of Illinois (minus 36 degrees in Congerville) on Jan. 5, according to the University of Wisconsin. Incidentally, that state record was topped 20 years later during the late January 2019 outbreak.

JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.

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Source: “AOL Breaking”