Chicago faces snow, slippery travel hours after severe weather
As a wild storm tracks over the Chicago area, weather conditions flipped from a severe thunderstorm and torrential downpour threat to sharply colder and snowy conditions with slippery travel in some areas by Thursday.
AccuWeather’s Damien Lodes and Anna Azallion break down the two parts of an intense storm slamming the Midwest on March 19 with both severe thunderstorms and heavy snow.
The same storm that caused damaging winds, hail and even a couple of tornadoes to a portion of the Midwest on Wednesday rapidly pushed cold air into the region Wednesday night, setting the stage for what may be a slippery Thursday morning commute in some locations, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
The center of a massive storm tracked nearly right over the Chicago area--putting the region on the storm's warm side at first then the cold side later. The weather flipped from that of warmth with severe thunderstorm activity to sharply colder with snow.
Chicago, IL picked up 0.54 inches of rain after storms passed through on Wednesday. There were also reports of damaging wind and hail outside of the city.
Cold winds will continue to increase from the north and usher in colder air through early Thursday morning. While the blizzard conditions that occurred farther west over the central Plains are not likely to be pulled into Chicago, some of the snow and wind will succeed in moving in.
The highest risk of snow covering roads with up to a few inches of accumulation in the metro area will be in the southern suburbs. Most roads downtown are likely to be wet as the snow falls. However, a heavy burst of snow around the city lasting an hour or two will leave some roads with a slushy coating causing it to be slippery even in the downtown area. The timing of that snowfall and slippery travel will coincide with the Thursday morning rush hour.
The storm's "double whammy" will lead to significant travel delays on the roads around Chicago and at one of the busiest flight hubs in the United States and the world—O'Hare International Airport. Airline passengers should expect flight delays and possible cancellations due deicing operations and possible slippery runways Thursday morning.
Strong, gusty winds on Thursday will cause some of the snow to blow around for a time before strong March sunshine emerges and leads to natural melting in the afternoon. However, it will remain rather windy.
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