Project 1: Snowfall Prediction for Chicago
Background Information

Source:
City of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation

"In February 1994, Chicago received nearly two feet of snow within a 60-hour period--the most significant blizzard since 1979. Streets and Sanitation put 700 pieces of equipment on the streets, which were getting snow at the rate of one inch every 30 minutes. In contrast to 1979, the Blizzard of 1994 failed to close any Chicago streets due to the availability of more equipment and better planning than existed 15 years earlier."

"Chicago averages 39 inches of snow annually. While snowfall officially is registered at O'Hare International Airport northwest of the city's corporate limits, there often are higher accumulations along the eastern edge of the city due to "lake effect" snowfalls created by the effect of Lake Michigan on meteorological conditions."

Source:
Chicago Tribune
City Plowing Job Not Up Everyone's Alley
Published on 01/05/99

"One month after the first snowfall of 1979, residents of dozens of city neighborhoods still were moaning about their clogged alleyways. A Feb. 6, 1979, Tribune survey found that alleys in most areas were impassable or piled with snow that hadn't been touched."

"One exception was Bridgeport, home of then-Mayor Michael Bilandic, who a few weeks later would be defeated at the polls by Jane Byrne."

Source:
Chicago Tribune
Icy Slap in the Face
Published on 01/04/99

The snow that fell from midnight-to-midnight Saturday set a record: 18.6 astounding inches, the most to hit Chicago in one day in more than a century of recordkeeping. And with temperatures expected to go as low as 15 below zero in the outlying areas Monday night, all those mountains of snow could...

Source:
Chicago Tribune
After Storm, Cleanup Begins
Published on 01/04/99

"Back in '67, I worked 36 hours straight," said Dunn, 64, who is employed by Landscape Concepts Inc., of Grayslake, which contracts with the mall. "Then we slept a couple of hours, and were back at it again," referring to the area's worst snowstorm, which dropped 23 inches in two days...