[az_gila]

Those “arctic express” fronts are bone-chilling & pipe-bursting, but little/no snow cover to speak of. I don’t remember any Dec-Mar ‘snow cover’ since 50s/60s, back in IL.

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The trouble with memory is that it is not very accurate. We usually only remember extreme or special events.

This might help - January snowfall for Joliet, IL since 1943. It looks like 2012 was quite a high snowfall year, and nothing outstanding in the 50's or 60's.

http://weather-warehouse.com/WeatherHistory/PastWeatherData_JolietBrandonRdDm_Joliet_IL_January.html

I don't know where you are exactly, but you can look it up at the link.

[sharkhawk]

That chart is suspicious. NR for January 1979 snow. Chicago had a 20+ inch snowstorm that year.

[Carriage Hill]

Right now I’m in PA. Back in the 50s/50s, I was in NW suburbs (Arlington Hts) of Chicago (1955-1967).

On that chart, a few NRs, besides 0”-14” yrs. I can’t get to AH’s page, since I’m not ‘signed-up’. AH wasn’t that far north of Joliet, but I do remember the continual snow covers. Not sure I trust their numbers. I also do remember the ‘57, ‘62 & ‘67 blizzards, before we moved to NJ.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/01/31/the-10-worst-snowstorms-in-chicago/