First Big Snow In 3 Months; More Than 500 Flights Canceled In Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- With the first significant snowfall in Chicago in nearly three months, airlines have cancelled more than 500 flights at O'Hare and Midway airports Monday morning.
Light to moderate snowfall started falling late Sunday night, and by 7:30 a.m., 2.2 inches had fallen at O'Hare International Airport, according to the National Weather Service. Midway International Airport had 1.6 inches by then.
As a result of the snow early Monday, airlines have cancelled more than 400 flights at O'Hare, as of 7 a.m., according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. Airlines at Midway have cancelled more than 100 flights.
A winter weather advisory has been issued for the entire Chicago area until 1 p.m. Monday.
As of 9:30 a.m., the highest total measured in northern Illinois was in Waukegan, where 5.5 inches fell, according to the National Weather Service. The northern and northwestern suburbs got the heaviest snowfall in the Chicago area.
Monday's snowstorm brought an end to a record 85-day snow drought for Chicago, as the city had not had one inch of snow in a single day since Dec. 17, 2016, when 1.7 inches fell. Before this winter, the longest Chicago had gone without a one-inch snowfall was 66 days, in winter of 1921-22.
Chicago went the entire months of January and February without any snow on the ground. While some snow did fall at times in those two months, it melted immediately.
Meantime, a lake effect snow warning will be in effect for Cook, DuPage, and Lake counties from 7 p.m. Monday until 4 p.m. Tuesday, due to a very small and thin area of lake effect snow that could create very intense snowfall at times, and reduce visibility to zero in some spots.
Lake effect snow could add up to 6 more inches of snow in some areas by Wednesday.
While it was snowing during the morning rush on Monday, the light snow was not causing any major delays on the roads, as city and state crews have been working through the night keeping highways and main streets clear of snow.
The city deployed its full fleet of 287 snowplows overnight to plow and salt the city's arterial streets.
