A night of snow and freezing rain made for messy Monday morning commute in some parts of the Chicago area after a winter storm pushed further east.
As of Sunday night, the storm had dumped more than a half-foot on the Chicago area, causing dangerous travel conditions. Chicago's suburbs were hit the hardest, with close to 8 inches reported at O'Hare International Airport and more than 10 inches in parts of McHenry County.
A Winter Storm Warning issued by the National Weather Service remained in effect for several counties across the Chicago area until early Monday.
The city's department of Streets and sanitation bumped up its force to put nearly 300 snow fighting vehicles on the roads ahead of the start of the work week. Snowplows focused on busier roads Sunday night before shifting to residential streets shortly after midnight, city officials said.
Even while the snow was still coming down Sunday night, some people ventured out to get a head start clearing their cars and sidewalks before it piled up any higher.
Not only is shoveling your sidewalk a nice thing to do, it's a city requirement. You can be cited and fined for not shoveling before 10 a.m. following a night of snowfall. City officials say residents can call 311 if they are unable to shovel it themselves.
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Both Chicago's O'Hare and Midway Airports were experiencing average delays of 15 minutes Monday morning, with 65 canceled flights at O’Hare and only 1 cancellation at Midway. Over the weekend more than 1,000 flights were canceled at O’Hare and nearly 200 at Midway.
A Delta plane with 70 passengers and crew landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Sunday in Michigan, where up to 10 inches of snow was expected to fall, but then ended up in snowy grass while it was turning from the runway to a taxiway. No injuries were reported.
