While Sunday night’s snow closed schools, roads and runways, it was only a November record in one town across the state.

With thousands still without power in central and northern Illinois, the blizzard that continued into Monday morning was one of the more severe to hit Illinois in years.

Illinois state climatologist Jim Angel said the weather station in Moline saw a record snowfall for the month of November.

“They had 17.9 inches and that sets a new record for the most snow in November,” he said. “The old record was 15.6 inches set back in 1974, so it’s been a while.”

Rockford received more than 11 inches of snow in a single day, breaking records there but not for totals in the month.

Angel said it might seem like much of the state saw record snowfall, but that’s because the wind created drifts that shut down roads.

“The high winds, those can really cause some really big drifts and everybody’s eyes always get drawn towards the drifts and that’s what we see pictures of,” he said.

With a couple days left in November, Angel says there’s still a chance to break many towns’ total snowfall record for the month, but the temperatures won’t likely drop enough for the rainy forecast to bring more snow.                         {Illinois Radio Network}

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