A late-winter snowstorm, bringing high winds and white-out conditions in some places, blanketed the Southland Wednesday, causing sporadic power outages, snarling traffic and forcing some schools and government offices to close early.
Visually, it appeared to snow horizontally at times due to strong winds. The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for several parts of the Southland and blizzard warnings for parts of Indiana. East of Route 50 experienced white-out conditions, said Will County Sheriff Sgt. Vince Gambino, the traffic supervisor.
“We are seeing numerous vehicles in ditches and we’ve had some accidents,” Gambino said. “The roads are snow covered (but) it’s more the wind at this point that’s blowing the snow, making visibility limited.”
Snowfall tallies varied depending on the location, but southeast Cook and eastern Will counties had accumulated at least 6 inches of snow by 6 p.m. Areas further north and west had little to no snowfall, while Northwest Indiana was socked with blizzard like conditions and more than a foot of snow in some places, National Weather Service spokesman Ricky Castro said.
Hundreds of flights at O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport were canceled. Motorists were encouraged to stay off the roads in some parts of eastern Will County, thanks to the late winter blast.
By late morning, temperatures hovered above freezing south of Interstate 80 where the storm was most concentrated, prompting a mix of snow and rain. But, that quickly turned into a steady snowfall around lunchtime.
Due to the storm, a severe weather spotter course scheduled at the Will County Farm Bureau was among the many activities canceled Wednesday. Schools across the Southland either closed early or canceled afternoon or evening activities and meetings, including in Alsip, Blue Island, Chicago Heights, Country Club Hills, Homewood, Flossmoor, Oak Forest, Palos Park and Tinley Park.
In Tinley Park, the village also canceled its proposed state property open house scheduled for Wednesday night and the library closed early.
Approximately 8,500 ComEd customers in the Southland were without power, according to the electric company’s website.
“Being a windy day, it puts some of the power lines to the test a bit,” Will County Emergency Management Agency Director Harold Damron said.
About 1,000 of those outages were in Will County, which Damron said was a low number given the storm’s severity. Other than those outages, he said no significant weather-related events occurred in Will County, which was one of the areas worst hit.
More Top Picks Best Computer Glasses Under 100
There were minimal weather-related crashes reported in the area. Interstate 57 experienced some white-out conditions, but no crashes were reported by evening Wednesday, police said. However, in rural areas, where snow blows across the fields, cars were not as lucky.
“Everybody’s been really good about staying on the road,” said an Illinois State Police spokeswoman for an area that includes Will, Kendall and Grundy counties. “We don’t have any problem out here, knock on wood.”
Still, Gambino advised those in eastern Will County to stay home unless absolutely necessary.
Illinois Department of Transportation spokeswoman Gianna Urgo said there were 350 snow plows and salt-spreading trucks on roads in the Chicago area, and a total of 1,700 are available statewide.
“We’ll be out as long as the conditions warrant it,” she said.
Despite the slick roads, not everyone stayed home.
Nancy Stanley, 48, braved the snow Wednesday afternoon to do a little shopping along La Grange Road.
“I braved the elements,” said Stanley, who lives in Orland Park. “Took a chance.”
Stanley said she didn’t think the storm was going to be worse than what already fell on Wednesday. But, if not, she’ll be out shoveling her sidewalk on Thursday.
Others, like brothers Tim and Brian Moriarty got to shoveling on Wednesday.
Tim, 15, and Brian, 14, shoveled sidewalks in front of their family’s Tinley Park home, as well as several neighbors’ walks Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s just nice to help them out,” Tim Moriarty said. “Sometimes, we’ll go all the way down the block.”
While their parents told them go out shoveling, no one had to tell them to help out the neighborhood. Despite the snow, the Moriarty brothers were in school on Wednesday and said they likely would be back there Thursday.
“We’ll probably be back shoveling,” Tim Moriarty said. “And doing homework.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Erin Gallagher and Nick Swedberg are freelance reporters for the Daily Southtown.