Originally Posted by
old's'cool
Since I grew up in Winnipeg, and am now in the Chicago area, not even close. What we've been experiencing here the past 4 weeks would be completely normal for Winnipeg in January. In fact the sporadic near freezing temps would be considered unusually warm.
But I'm glad to hear this one is regarded as remarkably cold and inclement.
That means I can look forward to the future winters here being a lot more tolerable. 
let's hope, but sometimes these bad winters work in long term, multi-year trends. as has been mentioned before, during my childhood in the late 70s/early 80s, chicago was walloped with a series of bad winters. since the mid 80s though, winters have been closer to normal, some worse than others sure, but nothing out of the ordinary. then came this utterly ridiculous winter. this winter reminds me of the crap winters of my childhood. let's hope it's not indicative of a longer term trend.