Residents, City Crews Say They're Ready For First Big Snowfall
(CBS) -- The weekend forecast calls for snow in Chicago for the first time since April, and the city said Thursday that its plows are ready.
More than 200 city plows and salt trucks will be deployed just ahead of the storm. Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Charles Williams said they will be hard at work long before most Chicagoans are awake, with the heaviest snows expected to fall between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. Saturday.
He expects snow to continue to fall until noon.
The annual arterial ban on 609 miles of Chicago thoroughfares does not take effect until Dec. 1, but the city has the option of imposing a parking ban on hundreds of miles of streets any time more than two inches of snow falls. Williams said he does not intend to invoke a ban despite the possible six inches in the forecast.
He is asking Chicagoans to forego "dibs," and to help neighbors shovel out instead.
He does not expect those coming in Saturday evening for the annual Festival of Lights celebration to encounter any problems.
Thursday, many Chicagoans were stocking up on winter-storm supplies.
"My boots are all waxed and sealed up, and I've lubricated my bike," Dutch Coufal tells CBS 2's Audrina Bigos.
The city has 330,000 tons of salt on hand.