Has Chicago ever gone without snow through winter?

Dear Tom,
Has Chicago ever gone without snow through winter?
Matt Downing

Dear Matt,

It’s never happened and almost certainly never will. Chicago climatologist Frank Wachowski scanned the city’s entire snow record dating from the winter of 1884-85 and found that the city has never even experienced a snowless month during the December-February meteorological winter, let alone an entire cold season.
 The city’s least snowy winters occurred around a century ago during a snow drought spanning the back-to-back winters of 1920-21 and 1921-22. The first winter produced just 9.8 inches and was followed by only 11.5 inches the following season. Recently the city logged just 19.8 inches in the 2011-12 winter, the least to fall here since the winter of 1948-49 when just 14.3 inches was measured.