Year after blizzard, things different in Naperville

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Images such as this one from Jefferson Street downtown after the blizzard last month are still fresh in residents' minds. The City Council at a workshop meeting Monday night discussed lessons the city learned from the blizzard and steps that need to be ta

Updated: March 4, 2012 8:11AM

What a difference a year makes.

At this time last year, Naperville residents needed a shovel to get out of their front doors.

The area slowed to a crawl as upward of 18 inches of snow covered the ground by the early morning hours of Feb. 2, 2011.

One year later, the mercury hit 50, well above the normal high temperature of 32 degrees for this time of year. And the snow brought when two snowstorms swept through the area in January melted in a matter of days.

The warm temperatures are above normal for the area this time of year, but aren’t necessarily unusual or a sign of global warming, said Bill Nelson, observation program leader for the National Weather Service in Romeoville.

“Some would say it’s just another cycle — common, constant changing of the weather patterns, just a natural occurrence …” Nelson said. “You could get arguments on both sides of that story.”

The weather has been good news for the city of Naperville, which hasn’t had to spread as much salt or pay as much overtime to clean streets because of snow.

One reason the mild weather stands out is the fact that the past several winters have been unusually cold and snowy, said National Weather Service Meterologist Richard Castro.

“Having a swing like this isn’t out of the realm of possibility. It just seems like we faced a pretty cold winter with a historic blizzard last year, so it kind of amplifies how warm this winter has been so far,” Castro said.

Surprisingly, even though temperatures have been six degrees above normal in January, the region had above-average snowfall, he said.

One major difference between this year and the recent past, however, is that the snows this year melted quickly, which is more normal for the Naperville area, Castro said.

“We had snow on the ground for 45 to 47 days through the end of January last winter. This winter through the end of January we only had snow on the ground for eight days, which is a huge difference,” Castro said. “Last year being so fresh in people’s minds — even winters before that had snow on the ground — amplifies further how mild this winter has been.”

Don’t look for signs of a blizzard this year. Temperatures will be in the upper 40s on Friday, with a swing toward more seasonable temperatures Sunday, Nelson said.