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January 2014 Ranks No. 3 All-Time For Snow

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Thursday's brief snow would have otherwise gone unnoticed in Chicago, except for the fact that it marked another milestone in what has become quite the winter.

Epic Snow For January

After yesterday's 0.4 inches of snow measured at O'Hare, this January became the third heaviest for snow in the history of man--or at least since man started keeping official track of such things around here in the 1880s.

Here are the top 5 months for snow in Chicago:

January 1918: 42.5 inches
January 1979: 40.4 inches
January 2014: 33.5 inches
December 1951: 33.3 inches
January 1978: 32.3 inches

There is more snow in the forecast, but most of it will fall after midnight, meaning it will count toward February's total.

Feb. 1 is also the anniversary of the blizzard of 2011 in which 21 inches fell and left cars stranded on Lake Shore Drive. That year turned out to be the snowiest February on record with about 29 total inches.

Last year, Chicago had no snow until Jan. 25, when about an inch of snow fell at O'Hare, the official recording station for record keeping.

That snapped a record 335 days without measurable snow.

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