"The storm was a full-blown blizzard, with 50 mph-plus northeast wind gusts creating drifts as high as 15 feet.

"[3] On Tuesday January 24, the maximum temperature was 65 °F (18 °C) but began to fall the next day with the passage of a marked cold front.

[5][6] In fact, the front brought arctic air from a strong 1032 mb high pressure center over the southern Canadian Prairies.

By the morning of January 25, the mercury had dropped to 31 degrees F. On the other hand, an upper-level baroclinic trough, coming from the Rockies, developed a low pressure system at the surface near the Texas Panhandle.

During the day, the elevated trough and surface low crossed the Mississippi Valley, reaching South-central Indiana before midnight on January 27 and deepening to 997 mb.

Its central pressure reached 990 mb while passing over Lake Erie and Southern Ontario, Canada.

On the evening broadcast, the National Weather Service started talking about snow mixed with freezing rain, but it was not until the night that the forecast was changed to mention snowfall, giving an accumulation of 4 inches.

[2] The snow fell continuously in Chicago and surrounding areas from 5:02 am on Thursday, January 26 until 10:10 am Friday when 23 inches (58 cm) had fallen.

[10] The storm affected the metropolitan Chicago area, with the heaviest snow falling from the west side extending east to northwest Indiana, as far as LaPorte.

Helicopters were the emergency vehicles, delivering medicine to diabetics, and food to people stranded in their cars.

[4] Twenty-six people died in Chicago due to the blizzard, including a young girl shot in crossfire between looters and police.

[7] The Chicago area started to recover from the extreme snowfall over the weekend, then it snowed 4 inches (10.2 cm) on Wednesday, February 1.

[8] Between January 26 and February 5, 36.5 inches (92.7 cm) of snow fell, which is typical for an entire Chicago winter.

[17] Some roofs collapsed, vehicles were stalled in snow, while some people had fun or tried out their snowshoes to get to work on Friday January 27, 1967.