2 storms merged for Chicago blizzard

CHICAGO (WLS) -- In just over 24 hours, the Chicago area got more snow than it had seen all winter.

Officially at O'Hare, 19.3 inches of snow was recorded, but some areas had more than 20 inches. Sunday's blizzard brought the fifth highest snow accumulation in the city's history.

The system responsible for this historic snow really started to develop last Friday. A potent storm brewing in the Southwest was able to tap moisture out of the Gulf of Mexico while a second disturbance in the northern branch of the jet stream started to head southeastward. As these two systems merged, they created a powerhouse of a storm that took the perfect track to bring Chicago heavy snow.

Chicago got more snow than the rest of the Midwest because of Lake Michigan.

Once the winds shifted northwest the lake effect snow ended.

After Sunday's blizzard, Chicago is just three inches shy of the average snow accumulation for the winter.