The Post-Thanksgiving Winter Storm Smashed Several Early-Season Midwest Snowfall Records

Chicago’s November Snow Breaks Record

The post-Thanksgiving winter storm in the Midwest — named Winter Storm Bellamy by The Weather Channel — not only snarled holiday travel, but also set several notable records for early-season and November snowfall.

At first glance, the map of snowfall from Bellamy in the Midwest shown below doesn't necessarily stand out among many past winter storms.

(MORE: Winter Storm Names Of 2025-2026)

But what was a bit unusual was how much snow fell so early in the "winter season," especially before December.

Here were some of the notables from this storm.

Records For November

These locations set all-time November, or this early in season, snowfalls during the storm:

- Chicago (O'Hare): Heaviest calendar day November snowfall (8.4 inches) on Nov. 29. This topped previous record from Nov. 6, 1951 (8 inches).

- Madison, Wisconsin: Snowiest November day (9.3 inches) on Nov. 29, and also their heaviest snowstorm to have occurred in November or earlier in the fall (11.7 inches). That topped a three-day snowstorm from Nov. 8-10, 1985 (11.3 inches).

- Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Iowa: Heaviest November (or earlier in fall) snowstorm (14.5 inches). This topped a Nov. 30, 1934, snowstorm (14 inches). This is more snow than an average November and December, combined (13 inches).

(MORE: Travel Snarled By Holiday Storm)

Heaviest November Snowfalls In Years

These locations didn't quite set November or "heaviest/earliest" records, but it was their heaviest so early in at least a few years.

- Des Moines, Iowa: Their 10.9 inches of snow in Bellamy was second only to a 12.1-inch snowstorm just prior to Veterans Day (Nov. 9-10, 1968) as their heaviest pre-December snowstorm so early in the season. Iowa's capital city picked up only 14.3 inches of snow all last season, from late fall through spring.

- Milwaukee, Wisconsin: While parts of the metro area picked up a foot of snow, Milwaukee's Mitchell Airport near the lakefront measured 8 inches of snow. Still, that was their heaviest pre-December in season snowfall in 30 years, since a 9.7-inch drubbing the Monday after Thanksgiving in 1995.

- Moline, Illinois: Second heaviest November snow day on record (9.1 inches) behind only the Nov. 25, 2018, snowstorm (13.3 inches).

- Rockford, Illinois: They also had their heaviest November snowstorm (8.8 inches) since the aforementioned late November 2018 snowstorm dumped 11.8 inches of snow, there. An early November 1951 storm (9.5 inches) is the only other heaviest storm so early in the season in Rockford.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.