Central Illinois
Weather Forecast Office
We have received inquiries in the past regarding discrepancies on our web page for Peoria February snowfall records, vs. what is being used by the National Centers for Environmental Information (the official data keeper for climate records). Specifically, the issue is with the records from February 1900, which are high enough that they impact all-time values for monthly snowfall and 24-hour snowfall.
Background Information:
The Weather Bureau (predecessor of the National Weather Service) began operations on the campus of the present Bradley University in 1905. Prior to this, the weather records for the Peoria area largely came from Dr. Frederick Brendel, who began taking observations in 1855. Due to incompatibilities in observing techniques, Dr. Brendel's records from before 1883 are not being used in our climatological database, but remain available for general climate research.
For unknown reasons, the records from Dr. Brendel for February 1900 are not available. The values that we currently use in our database came from historical record books provided by the Peoria Weather Bureau. As best as we can tell, the data was provided by the observer that took river stage readings for Peoria at the time. However, it became clear in our research that the records for the snow depth by that observer were inaccurately added into the monthly snowfall totals, as some days had no associated precipitation with them but the depth was considered "snowfall." Factoring in that error, it was determined the reported snowfall of 26.5 inches should have been no more than 20.5 inches.
Since the snowstorm of February 27-28, 1900, was considered the snowstorm of record for the Peoria area, we also researched newspaper reports from around that time. We were unable to obtain concrete snowfall totals for Peoria from those reports.
Changes Being Made:
Record Type | Old Value | New Value |
---|---|---|
Most snowfall in a single month | 26.5 inches in February 1900 | 24.7 inches in January 1979 |
Most snowfall in February | 26.5 inches in 1900 | 22.9 inches in 2014 |
Most snow in a single day (any month) | 14.5 inches on February 28, 1900 | 12.2 inches on January 13, 1979 |
Most snow in a single day in February | 14.5 inches on February 28, 1900 | 11.8 inches on February 1, 2011 |
Most snow in a single storm | 18.0 inches on February 27-28, 1900 | 15.0 inches on February 1-2, 2011 |
Record daily snowfall for February 28 | 14.5 inches on February 28, 1900 | 3.8 inches on February 28, 1925 |
US Dept of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Weather Service
Central Illinois
1362 State Route 10
Lincoln, IL 62656
217-732-7321 (forecast recording) or 217-732-3089
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