Naperville officials are asking residents for patience while crews go about clearing streets of the more than nearly foot of snow that had fallen by Sunday evening.
With the first major winter storm of the year bearing down on the Chicago region, bringing with it blizzard conditions of heavy snow and strong winds, Naperville officials wrote on a city blog that snow plow drivers are out and that most cul-de-sacs would get two rounds of plowing on Sunday.
“Please be patient,” the blog asked residents. “The long duration of this event coupled with heavy snowfall rates and severe drifting means roads will often be snow-covered for long periods of time.”
The Sunday afternoon blizzard pounded the area with an inch of snow per hour, leaving in its wake 14 to 16 inches of snow across the region by the early evening. It could have lingering effects on Monday’s commute, according to the National Weather Service Meteorologist Ricky Castro.
Metra expected to be operating on a regular schedule Monday, with extra people out clearing platforms. Locomotives will also be fueled overnight instead of during the middle of the day.
“We are doing all the things we usually do in advance of major storms,” said Metra spokesman Michael Gillis.
As of 3:30 p.m., Sunday, there had been 1300 flights canceled at O’Hare. At Midway, 300 flights were canceled and other flights were experiencing minimal delays. On Monday, Amtrak canceled trains between Chicago and Quincy.
Monday will gradually become sunny, according to data from the National Weather Service, allowing morning commutes to continue largely uninterrupted.
At O’Hare International Airport, 14.2 inches of snow fell as of 5:55 p.m. The airport saw 5.7 inches of snow over a six-hour period. Romeoville saw more than a foot of snow since the beginning of the storm.
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According to the Naperville blog heavy snow caused some tree limb downings but officials will not deal with them unless there is a hazard to traffic or pedestrians.
“Public Works Crews are working around the clock in 12-hour shifts and will continue to do so until the snow event has ceased & all roads are safe.” according to the blog.
Linda LaCloche, Naperville communications manager, said city employees and 22 snowplows have been tending to the streets since early Saturday night, and will continue to do so for the duration of the storm.
“We have certainly been hitting the streets and making sure the streets are passable,” LaCloche said. “From what we are seeing, we think the snow will be ending at about 3 a.m.(Monday), but our continuation of clean up will go on all day tomorrow.”
LaCloche also said garbage and recycling collections scheduled for Monday have been moved to Tuesday. Residents are urged to refrain from putting their refuse cans out on Monday. All other garbage and recycling pick-up will be delayed by one day the remainder of the week.
The nasty weather was also apparently taking a toll on some businesses that were expecting overflow crowds to watch the Super Bowl.
Calls to to drinking and eating establishments during the Super Bowl showed mixed results.
At Buffalo Wild Wings on West 75th Street, an employee who answered the phone and would not give her name said the kitchen was very busy with carry out orders, but the restaurant was not full with diners.
And at Peanuts Bar and Grill, on West Chicago Avenue, an employee answering the phone said the bar was “pretty empty.”
Meanwhile, at the Lantern Tavern and Grill, also on West Chicago Avenue, an employee reported that place was “packed” and she was too busy to comment.
Contributing: Freelance writer Jane Donahue
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