E. Jason Wambsgans, baiduhaiCorey Cross secures vehicles on his truck. He had been digging out abandoned vehicles along northbound Lake Shore Drive near 40th Street since 5:30 a.m.
E. Jason Wambsgans / baiduhaiAn abandoned bus is among the vehicles abandoned along northbound Lake Shore Drive.
E. Jason Wambsgans / baiduhaiAbandoned vehicles along northbound Lake Shore Drive near 40th Street on Feb. 2, 2011.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiDelores Parham, 66, collects gas money for a private snow plow owner to dig her neighbors out in the 9300 block of South Greenwood Street in Chicago. She collected $20 per household from many of her neighbors for the plow owner, her cousin David Wood from Country Club Hills, Ill.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiStranded commuters are stuck with their vehicles on Lake Shore Drive during the blizzard.
José M. Osorio / baiduhaiA woman crosses the intersection of Grand and Milwaukee Avenues in Chicago as snowplows work to clear the streets on February 2, 2011.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiChris Smith digs his car out at Taylor and Throop Streets in Chicago.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiCab driver Olatunde Musediq talks on the phone as he tries to get assistance with a tow out of a lot at Wilson Avenue and Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. Musediq says his car was damaged during a tow from Lake Shore Drive the night before. He says he spent 10 hours on Lake Shore Drive, then spent the morning at Malcolm X College, after being transported there by bus. It took him 4 hours to find his car.
Michael Tercha / baiduhaiTerminal 1 at O'Hare International Airport is completely empty on the second day of the storm.
Scott Strazzante, baiduhaiTravis Carter, 10, plays in a snow drift in Yorkville, Ill.
Antonio Perez, baiduhaiA pedestrian braves the wind and snow outside the Union Station as the blizzard of 2011 continues to pile snow in the city.
Chris Walker, baiduhaiA school snow day in Evanston: Jack McCauley, 8, (left) and Griffin Smith, 7, try the taste of snow in the McCauley family back yard in Evanston.
Terrence Antonio James, baiduhaiCollege students have a snowball fight on the University of Chicago campus.
Chris Walker, baiduhaiErdinch Isuyfov throws snow from atop a Kenilworth home, removing a load of snow from the roof to prevent ice dams and leakage.
David Pierini / baiduhaiThomaso Bassetto, 9, pulls his sister, Bianca, 6, under the supervision of their nanny Kate Galbraith. The three made their way down snow-covered Menomonee Street.
Keri Wiginton / baiduhaiSomeone leaves a note on a bus stop on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago as the snow continues to fall during a winter storm on Feb. 2, 2011.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiSnow drifts on a revolving door at a building in Lincoln Park on Feb. 1, 2011.
Chris Walker / baiduhaiDawn Scotland, 18, a Northwestern University student, makes her way through the evening blizzard at the corner of Hinman Avenue and Sheridan Road in Evanston.
Zbigniew Bzdak / baiduhaiJohn Larocca, Steve Magurany and Peter Vassos help neighbors along Bruce Avenue to clear snow in Flossmoor on February 2, 2011.
Alex Garcia / baiduhaiCommuters try to get on Metra trains at the Ogilvie Transportation Center as a massive snowstorm makes its way into the city.
Antonio Perez / baiduhaiSuicide by snow? Dibs on a parking spot? A pair of legs with boots stick out from a snow bank at Oak Park and Stanley in Berwyn,on Feb. 7, 2011. The fake legs and boots were placed outside George's Tavern as a joke.
David Pierini, baiduhaiEric Gurry snaps a photo of his wife, Suzi, and daughter Nelly, 7, on North Mohawk Street in Chicago. Neighbors gathered to play, sled, walk dogs and, of course, shovel.
Antonio Perez / baiduhaiCommuters make their way across the track after getting off a west bound Metra train during blizzard winds and cold on Feb. 1, 2011, in Berwyn.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiLake Shore Drive is at a standstill heading north while the southbound lanes are nearly empty, seen from the North Avenue Bridge.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiA passenger helps the driver keep the winshield clear on a rescue bus bringing passengers stranded on CTA buses on Lake Shore Drive back onto other routes
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiPeter Vassios clears snow off his roof with the help of his neighbors in Flossmoor.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiLauren Kuhlman makes way out of Walgreens in Lakeview with her provisions while wearing ski goggles to protect her eyes from the driving snow.
William DeShazer, baiduhaiCars wait to be hauled away as crews plow Lake Shore Drive on day two of the storm
E. Jason Wambsgans / baiduhaiAbandoned vehicles along northbound Lake Shore Drive on Feb. 2, 2011.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiRush hour commuters take to the street on Western and Milwaukee avenues Wednesday to avoid the snow-covered sidewalks.
Michael Tercha / baiduhaiPlows work to move and melt snow on the runways and taxiways at O'Hare International Airport Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2011 where all flights are cancelled.
Abel Uribe, baiduhaiAn upholstered chair sits in the sun, saving a parking spot in the Southwest Side as people dig their cars out of the snow all over the city.
David Pierini, baiduhaiAshley Barlow had to pick up her little-legged dogs, Zuma, left, and Floyd, to cross unplowed Belle Plaine Avenue at Damen Avenue. Many of the city's side streets remained unplowed after a winter blizzard dumped over twenty inches of snow.
Alex Garcia, baiduhai
Alex Garcia, baiduhaiA huge snow pile at a dumping location on Street Street on the South Side of Chicago, a day after the blizzard.
Chris Sweda / baiduhaiA group of kids have some fun as Danny McGavock, lying down, pretends as if he is knocked out by the big snow storm in Chicago. The teens were waiting for a Metra train at the Ravenswood stop.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiStranded commuters stuck on Lake Shore Drive in the snow around 11 pm on Feb. 1, 2011.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiWGN radio reporter Roger Badesch is among stranded commuters stuck on northbound Lake Shore Drive in the snow.
William DeShazer, baiduhaiThe Chicago lakefront is lost in blowing snow on the second day of the storm.
Stacey Wescott / baiduhaiIDOT District 1 dispatcher Sean Kavanagh monitors the snow and roadside problems that arise on local roads at the IDOT operations communications center in Schaumburg
Keri Wiginton, baiduhaiAugie Aleksy, left, reaches for his mail from Chris Stewart while Aleksy clears snows from the sidewalk in front of his bookstore on Madison Street in Forest Park. "I didn't really think it would be this bad," said Aleksy, who had to clear the walkway himself.
Terrence Antonio James, baiduhaiCollege students have a snowball fight on the University of Chicago campus.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiChicago firefighters on snowmobiles try to reach stranded commuters stuck on Lake Shore Drive in the snow around 11 pm.
Antonio Perez / baiduhaiZoran Malisic takes a break from plowing snow, near the Willis Tower, as the blizzard of 2011 continues to wreck havoc, in Chicago on Feb. 2, 2011.
David Pierini, baiduhaiA man lends a hand to another who slipped and fell on a narrow icy sidewalk near the Brown Line station at Irving Park Avenue in Chicago. Chicagoans tried to resume their normal lives after more than a foot of snow dropped on the city, but found narrow sidewalks, piles of snow to cross through, or over, and single-digit temperatures.
Alex Garcia / baiduhaiA quiet rush hour on the Eisenhower Expressway as seen at Austin Avenue, February 2, 2011.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiStranded motorists try to jump start and move a car stuck in the Lakeview neighborhood around 1 am.
Scott Strazzante, baiduhaiAs icicles hang from Cloud Gate, Jay Ing of Chicago walks through Millennium Park in Chicago.
Antonio Perez, baiduhaiRoy Endsley walks away after snapping a photo of the iconic Picasso sculpture during a break from work after the blizzard of 2011 wreaked havoc on the city.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiWorkers remove snow from the CTA's Belmont station late into the night on the second day of the storm.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiAndrea Lloyd waits for the 36 bus at Clark Street and Fullerton Avenue in Lincoln Park on Feb. 1, 2011.
Alex Garcia / baiduhaiA person walks by huge piles of snow on Lake Street at Franklin in the Chicago Loop.
Phil Velasquez / baiduhaiPeople make their way in blowing snow at Randolph and Des Plaines Street.
Antonio Perez, baiduhaiChildren return to Andrew Jackson Language Academy in Chicago on Friday, following two days off due to the historic blizzard. Many were driven to school because there was no school bus service.
Stacey Wescott / baiduhaiA Liberty Income Tax character stands in the blowing snow along Summit Street in Elgin. He had been standing on the street for about 2 hours and planned to head home soon.
Chris Walker, baiduhaiClaire Winter, 17, digs a car out of the snow in front of her house, even though Claire and her helping sister Molly Winter, 21 (not visible), did not know who the car belonged to. They live on Orrington Avenue in Evanston.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiSnow driven by blizzard winds blows into a building in Lakeview.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiBarbara Burns, 10, catches a snowball from her father as their neighbor Steve Magurany helps to clear snow from the neighborhood along Bruce Avenue in Flossmoor.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiSnow is removed with heavy equipment at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiStranded commuters who were stuck on northbound Lake Shore Drive in CTA buses are evacuated by CTA employees and Chicago firefighters to a southbound rescue bus.
Chris Walker, baiduhaiA driver whose car is stuck on an unplowed Estes Street, east of Paulina Street, glances down to assess the situation before asking for help.
Phil Velasquez / baiduhaiPedestrians head cross the Adams Street bridge and snow begins to fall in Chicago. Nearly 2 feet is expected to fall.
E. Jason Wambsgans / baiduhaiSnow and ice along the lakefront on Feb. 3, 2011 following the week's earlier blizzard.
Antonio Perez / baiduhaiMort Ames goes for a ski trip down a nearly abandoned LaSalle Street durning his lunch break, on Feb. 2, 2011.
William DeShazer, baiduhaiFriends help get a car out of the snow on West Newport Avenue.
Abel Uribe / baiduhaiAs of 5:30pm, there were a couple of hundred vehicles still stuck in the northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive after a major snow storm buried Chicago and the surrounding area on Feb. 2, 2011.
José M. Osorio, baiduhaiPedestrians on their way to the CTA Blue Line station help each other at West Grand Avenue and North Milwaukee Street.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiFrosted windows of a stuck CTA bus on northbound Lake Shore Drive.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiStranded commuters stuck on a CTA bus on Lake Shore Drive in the snow around 11 pm on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiA person uses a keyboard to place dibs on a parking spot on Talman Avenue at Argyle Street, on Chicago's North Side.
Alex Garcia, baiduhaiChicagoans continue to shovel out in the Pilsen neighborhood, a day after the blizzard dumped some 20 inches of snow on the area.
Antonio Perez, baiduhaiA person takes a smoke break at 57 W. Washington Blvd. after the blizzard of 2011.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiPassengers arrange their travel plans at the American Airlines counter in Terminal 3 as most morning flights remain canceled at O'Hare International Airport.
Chris Walker, baiduhaiFrancisco Torres, from left, scrambles atop a Kenilworth home to join Erdinch Isuyfov and George Ocegueda removing a load of snow from the roof to prevent ice dams and leakage.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiNeighbors help a stranded motorist on Briar Place in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago around midnight as the blizzard rages on.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiStranded commuters make their way up a closed North Lake Shore Drive at Belmont, after getting off a stranded bus in the snow.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiStranded commuters and their vehicles sit stuck on Lake Shore Drive in the snow around 11 pm on Tuesday.
Robert Kozloff, baiduhaiPedestrians cross the Chicago River on West Harrison Street in Chicago.
Scott Strazzante, baiduhaiCaroline Spence plays in the snow in the backyard of her home in the Heartland Circle subdivision in Yorkville, Ill.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiA man piles snow high up in an alley near Sedgwick and North Avenue in Chicago.
E. Jason Wambsgans / baiduhaiAn abandoned bus is among the many vehicles stranded along northbound Lake Shore Drive.
Brian Cassella, baiduhaiSnow angels in the middle of what would be the Bryn Mawr Avenue exit off northbound Lake Shore Drive in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago.
E. Jason Wambsgans / baiduhaiAbandoned vehicles litter northbound Lake Shore Drive the day after the Groundhog Day blizzard. Nearly a thousand cars were stranded overnight. The snowfall total from the storm was pegged at 20.2 inches at O'Hare International Airport, making the Groundhog Day storm the third-largest in Chicago history, according to the weather service.
Phil Velasquez / baiduhaiA man walks west on the Adams Street Bridge as snow hits Chicago during the afternoon on Feb. 1, 2011.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiChicago firefighters evacuate passengers off a northbound CTA 146 bus near Diversey Ave onto a southbound rescue bus on Lake Shore Drive in the snow around 11 pm.
Brian Cassella / baiduhaiSnow banks and covered cars along Briar Place in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago.
Keri Wiginton / baiduhaiDrivers make their way past Forest Park as the snow falls on I-290 westbound near Forest Park.
E. Jason Wambsgans / baiduhaiA dog on Lake Shore Drive Bridge braces agasint the wind during the blizzard.
E. Jason Wambsgans, baiduhai
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Corey Cross secures vehicles on his truck. He had been digging out abandoned vehicles along northbound Lake Shore Drive near 40th Street since 5:30 a.m.
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player ready...As of midnight Monday, Chicago officially broke the record for longest stretch between measurable snowfalls at 281 days. And, with very little chance of precipitation this week, the area’s snowlessness could break another record.
The latest date Chicago has ever received measurable snowfall was 0.3 inches recorded on Dec. 16, 1965, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Ratzer.
A relatively warm, dry week is ahead of this year’s Dec. 16, on Sunday, Ratzer said, with highs in the upper-40s and possibly into the 50s by Friday. There is a 70 percent chance of precipitation for Saturday, but he said it’s not likely to produce snow.
“It doesn’t look like we’ll have measurable snow through Sunday,” Ratzer said Tuesday morning. “Right now it looks like a rain-producing storm system for us. It could produce a rain/snow mix, but that’s not what’s in our forecast.”
Ratzer said a trace of snow was measured at O’Hare Airport on Monday, but it didn’t accumulate to the one-tenth of an inch considered to be “measurable.” However, Monday did produce measurable snow for western Mendota and Rochelle, Ill., he said.
The earliest-recorded measurable snowfall for Chicago was Oct. 12, 2006, Ratzer said.