Weather outside makes driving frightful
Heavy snowfall overnight coupled with freezing drizzle early Tuesday played havoc with the morning commute, officials said.
A winter weather advisory in effect in the Chicago area since 9 p.m. Monday ended at 10 a.m.
Temperatures are now expected to climb above freezing and help melt some of the 2 to 5 inches of snow that fell overnight, officials from the National Weather Service said.
Huntley and Elburn were reporting five inches of snow fell overnight before the rain started to fall early Tuesday. Algonquin was reported about 4 inches of snow, Lake Villa reported just under 3 inches, while Aurora, Batavia and villages in northern Cook County reported between 2 and 3 inches of snow overnight.
O'Hare International Airport reported 2½ inches overnight, but the freezing drizzle caused delays Tuesday morning. O'Hare officials said more than 75 flights were canceled since Monday night, and flights are averaging delays of about 45 minutes.
Midway was experiencing no cancellations and only minor delays, said officials from the Chicago Department of Aviation.
Police and fire crews were kept busy responding to multiple spinouts in Lake, McHenry, Cook and DuPage counties during the freezing drizzle that landed early Tuesday.
The worst of the accidents was a head-on crash near Barrington that shut down Route 22 at 7:30 a.m.
Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Christopher Thompson said the 6:30 a.m. accident involved three vehicles on Route 22 and Haverton Way.
He added there were minor injuries reported in the crash, that was caused by slick conditions. Its unclear at this point if anyone involved was transported to an area hospital because of the crash.
Illinois State Police put their emergency snow plan in effect, telling drivers in minor accidents with no injuries on the tollways to exchange information and file any police reports later.
With the latest storm moving through the area, all eyes turn to later in the week where meteorologists are forecasting a 60 percent chance of snow to blanket the areas sometime Friday morning and continue intermittently through Christmas Saturday.