January 19, 2021: Intense Evening Snow Squall Impacts Parts of Chicago Metro

News Headlines

August 9, 2026: Two Rounds of Severe Thunderstorms, Including Late Night Tornadoes in North-Central Illinois
August 11, 2026: Powerful Morning Derecho Produces Widespread Wind Damage and Tornadoes Across Northern Illinois and Northwest Indiana

Click image below for PDF (2 MB) presentation about event

Radar Loop from 8:08 PM to 10:21 PM CST 1/19

KLOT Radar Loop and Snowfall Reports

Fast Facts
Snow/Ice Totals
Storm Reports
Additional

Fast Facts

An intense snow squall associated with an Alberta clipper rushed through northeast Illinois during the evening hours.

Snowfall amounts ranged from 1-4" in a narrow band from Boone County to Cook County to parts of northwest Indiana.

Official snowfall total for Chicago, at O'Hare International Airport, was 1.5" with the snow squall and 1.7" total for January 19th.

Highest amount reported from a volunteer observer was 3.4" in Bull Valley (east central McHenry County).

Snow/Ice Totals

Snowfall Map as of the Morning of Wednesday January 20th

Text Listing of Snowfall Reports from Volunteer Observers

Storm Reports

Map of Snowfall Local Storm Reports

    
                        

252

NWUS53 KLOT 220006

LSRLOT



Preliminary Local Storm Report

National Weather Service Chicago IL

706 PM CDT Fri Aug 21 2026



..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...

..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....

            ..REMARKS..



0605 PM     Hail             3 N Mendota             41.58N 89.12W

08/21/2026  E1.50 Inch       La Salle           IL   Public



            Multiple photos depict hail just larger than

            ping pong balls. Time estimated by radar.





&&



$$

Additional

Links

Media use of NWS Web News Stories is encouraged!
Please acknowledge the NWS as the source of any news information accessed from this site.

Additional recaps can be found on the NWS Chicago Science & Past Events Page.

LOT RSS Feed