Holiday Travelers Plan Around Winter Storm
Chicago (CBS) -- Gas up the cars and snowblowers. Winter is crashing family get-togethers this weekend.
With up to 10 inches projected, the Illinois Department of Transportation is advising Thanksgiving visitors to pack up the leftovers and hit the roads early in the morning or even Saturday night.
Pete Dowker is doing exactly that. He's traveling to Michigan Saturday night.
"We'll get in about one in the morning, but we'll get a full day of sleep tomorrow and it sounds like that was a good idea," Dowker said.
Some of the heaviest snow forecast is just northwest of O'Hare International Airport. More than 350,000 people were scheduled to fly in and out of O'Hare and Midway Sunday.
"I'm going back to school because I was home for the weekend and I was worried that my flight was going to get canceled because of the snow, so I changed it to tonight," Jason Alton said.
Carriers like United are offering free flight changes, which might be the smoothest part of the process.
Carlie Wysocke flew into Chicago from Florida.
"Every flight we were on was packed and everything was delayed," Wysocke said. "It's like Christmas chaos level everywhere I've been at the airport so far."
The impending storm changed future holiday plans too.
Jerry Pinotti, an Evergreen Park resident, is aiming to get his holiday decorations up as soon as possible.
"Do as much as I can in my front yard before it starts snowing and icing and then it's gonna get cold and who knows how long it's going to be," Pinotti said. "The lights are coming down. The Christmas lights are going up tonight."