Winter Storm To Bring More Snow, Then Bitter Cold
CHICAGO (CBS) -- With several more inches of snow possible over the next few days, the people who keep the highways clear said they're ready for a busy weekend.
Unlike the first two snow storms of the month, this one is expected to begin in the middle of the afternoon, and could make the afternoon rush a mess.
A winter weather advisory has been issued for most of northern Illinois and parts of northern Indiana from noon Friday until 6 a.m. Sunday.
A winter storm warning has been issued for all of Wisconsin from 2 p.m. Friday until 9 p.m. Saturday. Wisconsin could see a total of 7 to 11 inches of snow.
The Illinois Department of Transportation has asked people to stay off the roads in the Chicago area Friday evening if at all possible.
Crews were loading their trucks with salt at the IDOT yard in the River West neighborhood Friday morning.
Snow is expected to begin falling in the Chicago area around 3 p.m., and likely will keep falling until Saturday morning, when the precipitation will likely change to a mix of sleet and freezing rain. Snow should return Sunday evening, and clear out again by Sunday morning.
Snow totals of 6 to 8 inches were expected along the Illinois-Wisconsin state line by Sunday morning; 3 to 6 inches were expected for most of the Chicago area, and 1-3 inches were expected south of Interstate 80.
More than 300 IDOT trucks will be on the roads, and crews will plow and treat 9,000 lane miles of Interstate highways in the Chicago area throughout the weekend.
As the snow ends, temperatures will plunge Saturday night into early Sunday, falling to a couple degrees below zero Sunday morning. The daytime high on Sunday will be only around zero, with wind chills as cold as 20 below.
"We are concerned that we need to get as much snow as we can out of there on Saturday. When it drops like that, it's a different kind of weather hazard for us," Illinois Transportation Secretary Randy Blankenhorn said. "So we need to keep people off the roads there as well, but the good news is we probably won't have it warm enough that it starts to melt, and then we get the plunge and it freezes again. That would be worse, but in this case I think it's going to be cold enough we'll get it off the streets, and hopefully we'll just have to then deal with the cold weather."
IDOT asked drivers to give plows plenty of room to work; and, as always, be careful, drive slowly, and buckle up.
Temperatures will get much colder by Monday morning, with a low of 14 below, and wind chills nearly 30 below.
