Last night an early spring winter storm that produced a mammoth blizzard in the Texas panhandle and central plains earlier this week made its way to the Midwest yesterday. The day started with moderate rainfall with a mix of freezing rain and sleet. Finally, after midnight the rain changed to snow over northern Illinois and Dekalb. Due to the high moisture content of this snow it stuck to just about everything. My forecast of 4-5" of snow for Dekalb, IL looks like it verified with areas in Dekalb County reporting 4 and 5" of snow just as predicted, but far from the 8" or so models were projecting earlier in the week. The main issue with yesterday's system was the change-over to snow was gradual enough that it allowed some ice to accumulate on the trees. This combined with the snow accumulation on top of that put some stress on tree limbs causing many to break across campus. I was able to get some damage photos of this including a very large tree limb behind Davis Hall that couldn't withstand the weight of the heavy wet snow and ice. Other than tree damage across the county no real travel problems thanks to this storm occurring in late-March instead of January or February.
Roads pretty clear thanks to the near freezing temperatures and the wet nature of the snow made snow removal much easier on campus with this storm
More tree damage pictured (above)
Davis Hall winter scene
More damage from the winter storm behind Davis Hall
Entrance to Castle Drive
Amazing the things you'll find in the snow
Lots of crackling being heard in this wooded-area on campus
What a mess...
West Lincoln Highway this morning
Late March sun-angle doing wonders melting the snow already
More and more of these scenes
Campus view atop the parking garage
Another area across West Lincoln Highway
Geese in the East Lagoon probably wondering what season it is again as well as myself
Hopefully, this is the last "winter" post anytime soon. What a winter though that just keeps tallying up the snowfall total across Dekalb, IL. A quick look at the models shows that this active pattern will continue over the next week at least.
