Chicago and Illinois road conditions Tuesday morning were ice-covered and "treacherous" as freezing rain was expected to continue through the morning commute.
"If your area has not been treated, it will be treacherous and dangerous this morning," NBC 5 Meteorologist Alicia Roman said. "We've seen some accumulations of ice this morning."
As of 5:15 a.m., NBC 5 Meteorologist Alicia Roman reported some parts were seeing just rain, as temperatures wobbled back and forth between a freezing point of 32 degrees. Other areas, including Kane and DeKalb Counties in Illinois and Gary and Valparaiso in Indiana, were seeing steady freezing rain.
Illinois road, driving conditions across the suburbs
In an alert early Tuesday morning, the Kane County Sherriff asked residents to "make every effort" to stay off the roads Tuesday morning, as "extremely icy conditions" were expected.
"The Kane County Sheriff’s Office is asking our community to make every effort not to drive this morning due to extremely icy conditions, especially in rural Kane County," the alert said. "We are experiencing many vehicles that have gone off the roadway overnight, numerous tow companies not responding until conditions improve, and plows having to drive backwards just to keep the salt under their tires."
The Kane County Sherriff later sent an update saying roads were becoming more "passable."
Local
"It is still a very slow drive and some areas remain icy," the Sheriff said.
Kane County also moved to close all non-emergency government offices due to the weather.
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The National Weather Service also warned drivers, saying that roads and untreated sidewalks near and south of I-88 are "ice-covered."
"Be very careful when walking out the door," the NWS said. "Don't trust any shiny surface."
NBC 5 Reporter Jen DeSalvo, who was in the western suburb of Carol Stream Tuesday, "significantly reduced visibility," along with wet, slick roads.
NBC traffic reporter Kye Martin reported several spin-outs and slide-offs Tuesday morning, including on Westbound I-88 in Downers Grove, in Schaumburg at Irving and Roselle and on the Edens Expressway at Touhy.
Martin also reported traffic signals in some parts were out.
ComEd Monday said crews were increasing staffing and readying equipment should power outages occur.
“We are positioning our crews and equipment to respond quickly and safely to any interruptions that occur from this ice storm,” COO of ComEd David R. Perez said. “We understand that any outage is an inconvenience to our customers, especially during winter weather systems. We have been investing in the grid to minimize the impact that storms like this have on our system, and our crews are standing by to support the 9 million people that count on us to deliver reliable electricity.”
In Indiana, officials recommended postponing or even canceling travel Tuesday morning due to the slick roads.
"Increase your stopping/following distance and assume that anything that looks wet/shiny is ice," a tweet from the Indiana Department of Transportation said.
As a result of the icy conditions, more than 60 schools across the Chicago area reported closures or moves to e-learning schedules for Tuesday.
According to FlyChicago.com, more than 100 flight cancellations were reported at O'Hare and Midway International Airports.
How to check Illinois road conditions
Ahead of your commute, here's how to check the road conditions near you:
- Winter Road Conditions
- Road Construction
- Illinois Tollway Road Alerts
- Indiana Road Conditions and traffic cameras
When will the icy conditions end?
According to the NWS, the winter weather advisory will expire at 9 a.m. for counties to the south, and at 12 p.m. in counties to the north, where a brief period of light snow with accumulations of up to one inch was expected to arrive in the later morning hours.
Scattered showers are expected to remain in the afternoon forecast Roman said, followed by fog, which will linger into Wednesday.
By Tuesday evening, the rain is expected to clear out, Roman said.
Showers return Wednesday morning, with another round of wet weather late Wednesday into Thursday.
As the work week wraps up, rain is expected to move out, but clouds will linger, Roman said, keeping things foggy and cloudy through the weekend.
"A dreary and dry end to the week," Roman said.
According to Roman, Tuesday's high temperature is expected to be 36 degrees, which is slightly above average for this time of year. Temperatures will gradually rise as the week continues, eventually reaching into the low 40s by the weekend.
