Chicago has just come out of our fourth-longest stretch with at least 10 inches of snow cover

For Chicagoans whose arms and backs still haven’t recovered from week after week of shoveling snow that seemed never to stop, this won’t ease your aches any, but at least it might confirm what you imagined.

We really have had a ridiculous amount of snow on the ground for a ridiculous length of time: 25 days, from Jan. 31 through Feb. 24, with a snow cover of 10 inches or more recorded at O’Hare Airport, where Chicago’s official weather statistics are kept by the National Weather Service.

That’s our fourth-longest stretch ever buried beneath so much snow.

Here’s how that compares to the other snowiest stretches.