Plows were ready to roll, airlines were saying they won’t penalize fliers for changing their plans and the city’s Department of Human Services was heating up some extra soup as Chicago prepared Friday night for a big snow.
There was plenty of warning for the late-winter storm, which was expected to deliver a heavy snowfall early Saturday. By the time the snow tapers off Saturday night, the National Weather Service said, some parts of the area could have as much as a foot of snow, which would make this the worst storm of an otherwise mild winter.
Also tracking the weather were American Airlines and United Airlines, the largest carriers at O’Hare International Airport. On Friday, they announced “winter storm warnings,” which allow their passengers to change travel plans through Tuesday without penalty.
The city planned to have all its 261 snowplows and salt-spreading trucks in operation, said Matt Smith, a Streets and Sanitation Department spokesman. To that number it planned to add 110 hitch plows to garbage trucks, put five four-wheel drive trucks on the roads with plows attached, and dispatch its smaller Snow Tiger vehicles to clean side streets.
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The Department of Human Services put its “extreme winter weather plan” in effect Friday, said Deputy Commissioner Carmelo Vargas. Friday night he had nine vans on the streets to dispense warmups, hot soup and information on social services.