Frigid Week Ahead As Snow Ends In Chicago Area
CHICAGO (CBS) -- As skies cleared and plows worked to clear streets and highways of the latest round of snow, a fresh round of frigid weather was settling in on the Chicago area Tuesday morning.
The Chicago area got less snow than expected overnight, with most areas getting only two to three inches of snow, including 2.6 inches at Midway International Airport, and 2.0 inches at O'Hare International Airport.
The city deployed its entire fleet of 280 snow fighting trucks Monday night. As usual, trucks focused on plowing Lake Shore Drive and main streets before clearing side streets. As the snow had stopped falling before dawn, plows were able to move to side streets by 6 a.m.
Meantime, temperatures have settled into the single digits, dropping to as low as 4 below zero at 5 a.m. at O'Hare.
Although Tuesday's high could reach 10 degrees, temperatures will stay in the single digits virtually all the rest of the week, only occasionally flirting with double digits until late Saturday night, when they could rise into the low 20s.
The mercury could drop to as low as 8 below zero late Wednesday and early Thursday.
The frigid temperatures have prompted a wind chill warning from the National Weather Service, lasting from midnight Tuesday night until noon Thursday. Wind chills could hit as low as 35 below zero Tuesday night and Wednesday night.
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The cold and snowy conditions were not creating any significant traffic or mass transit problems as of early Tuesday morning. Neither the CTA nor Metra were reporting any significant delays.
Metra said they have learned from a string of major delays caused by frigid and snowy conditions last winter. So far, Metra has not suffered any weather-related delays on Monday or Tuesday, in part because they routinely use controlled fires to prevent snow from turning into ice and jamming track switches.
Metra also has installed switch heaters across the system, but Metra officials don't want to take any chances. That's why crucial switches were being monitored around the clock.
New high-velocity blowers also were being used to prevent snow from building up on the tracks. Train doors that froze shut during last winter's polar vortex have been rebuilt and replaced,
As for the CTA, the transit agency had extra crews in the field to keep trains and buses moving. Spokeswoman Tammy Chase said commuters' smartphones can help make snowy and cold conditions more bearable.
"We definitely encourage our riders to use our train and bus tracker apps. There are a lot of apps that carry our information to get your arrival times, so you can limit how much time you're outdoors waiting for a train or a bus," she said.
While mass transit was running smoothly Tuesday morning, slippery conditions on the roads have caused several traffic accidents, including on the Stevenson Expressway, the Tri-State Tollway, and many spots in northwest Indiana.
For the most part, however, highways have been plowed, and traffic has been moving steadily, if slowly.
Anyone who does have to go outside in such extreme cold should dress in layers, and make sure no skin is exposed to the cold. Hypothermia and frostbite can set in after only a few minutes in such frigid conditions.
Those conditions will serve as a reminder for drivers to plan for potentially slick conditions. Police have reminded drivers early on to slow down under such conditions, and give themselves more time to get where they're going.
City officials also reminded businesses to clear sidewalks and corners for pedestrians, and asked all residents to check on the elderly and people with disabilities.