It looks like we dodged a bullet as snowfall totals were lower than expected in the area and a winter weather advisory has expired.
A winter weather advisory that was in effect for Cook and Will counties was canceled at 9 p.m., and the snow has “pretty much stopped,’’ according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Jim Allsopp.
Northwest Indiana is a different story.
“It’s snowing pretty heavily there now, they are getting lake-effect snow,’’ Allsopp said Friday night.
The storm dropped 2 1/2 inches of snow in
Huntley, about 50 miles northwest of Chicago in
McHenry County, which ended up with the highest totals, Allsopp said.
Though as much as 4 inches had been predicted, DuPage and Cook counties only saw an average of 1.5 inches of snow.
Midway Airport and southwest suburban Romeoville had 1.6 inches of snow, while only 1 inch had fallen in Northbrook as of Friday night, Allsopp said.
The city initially put out 75 plows in the late morning, and early this afternoon increased that amount to 183 total plows, half of the full fleet, on main routes and Lake Shore Drive, according to the city Department of Streets & Sanitation.
The snowfall caused about 300 cancellations and delays of up to 90 minutes at O'Hare, with delays of up to 30 minutes and a few cancellations at
Midway, according to the 8:30 p.m. update from the Chicago Department of Aviation.
In Indiana, the weather service has issued a lake-effect snow warning that will expire at 4 a.m. Saturday. A total of 6 to 12 inches of snow could fall in parts of northwest Indiana, with some areas getting 18 inches, the weather service said.
"Snowfall rates within the most intense snow band later this evening into the overnight hours could exceed 2-3 inches per hour," the weather service said in a statement.
In fact, meteorologists with the weather service said this morning they came very close to issuing a blizzard warning for northwest Indiana, but the high winds necessary for a blizzard warning aren't likely to materialize.
Temperatures are expected to fall, with single-digit wind chills possible.
For continual updates, check the
Chicago Weather Center
