Snow winners: Waukegan, 14 inches; Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire, 13
Metra officials are hoping for normal on the ride home after a messy commute to work this morning because of snow.
A lake effect snow warning for Lake and DuPage counties expired at 4 p.m., but it was extended to 6 p.m. in Cook County, mainly for a snow squall in south Chicago and suburbs closer to Lake Michigan.
Cancellations and delays plagued a number of train lines earlier, but the commuter rail agency said it was dispatching mechanics to fix faulty equipment and crews to keep switches from icing this afternoon.
Ice falling into and disabling switches often causes problems, but one source of delays this morning was a car stuck on the tracks near Union Station, a Metra spokeswoman said.
O'Hare International Airport reported more than 590 flights canceled by midday and delays averaging 45 minutes. Midway Airport reported delays of more than 15 minutes and had over 60 cancellations.
Waukegan got the highest snow total over two days since early Monday morning and through noon today, with 14 inches. Buffalo Grove and Lincolnshire followed with 13, and Gurnee with 12 inches, the National Weather Service reported.
The snow totals declined for suburbs to the south: Mundelein recorded just under 10 inches, Schaumburg 7 inches, Elmhurst 6 inches and Naperville just under 2.
Poor road conditions led to crashes and significant delays during the morning rush on major expressways including I-90, I-290, I-55 and the Tri-State Tollway.
Thirty or more cars were involved in several clusters of crashes late Monday in the southbound express lanes of the Kennedy Expressway near Division Street that were caused by the weather, Illinois State Police said.
Before Monday, it had been 85 days since snow fell in the Chicago area, ABC 7 said.
Temperatures should remain in the low to high 30s over the next several days, making for a March that so far is colder than February. The average high temperature so far this month has been 45 degrees, according to the Weather Underground website. The average high was 48 degrees for February.
Suburban snow totals
In inches. 1-day totals from late Monday through Tuesday morning. 2-day totals from early Monday through Tuesday morning.
Town 1-day 2-day
Waukegan 8.8 14.3
Buffalo Grove 9.0 13.0
Lincolnshire 9.0 13.0
Mundelein 5.6 12.4
Gurnee 7.5 12.0
Lake Zurich 4.5 8.1
Mount Prospect 5.0 8.0
Schaumburg 4.9 7.3
Elmhurst (north) 4.4 6.9
Elmhurst (south) 3.6 5.9
Lisle (Morton Arb.) 3.2 5.2
McHenry 1.0 4.0
Elgin 1.2 3.6
Batavia 1.0 2.8
Aurora (Kane) 1.0 2.5
Naperville 0.8 1.8
Source: National Weather Service