CPS cancels Friday classes as city braces for snowstorm expected to dump up to 14 inches
Apowerful winter storm that could bring up to 14 inches of snow to some areas was bearing down on Chicago and the suburbs late Thursday, leading city and transportation officials from around the region to sound an alarm over deteriorating road conditions and a messy morning commute.
Chicago Public Schools called off classes for Friday, joining a host of suburban districts that decided on a snow day for students. Check the list here.
All Cook County courts will also be closed Friday, except Central Bond Court at the Leighton Criminal Court Building and juvenile detention hearings at the Juvenile Center, according to a statement from Chief Judge Timothy Evans.
All Friday hearings will be rescheduled.
The forecast from the National Weather Service called for between 8 and 14 inches of snow, with the first flakes falling early Thursday evening — sparing late-afternoon rush hour traffic. The bulk of the snowfall will come between midnight Thursday and 9 a.m. Friday, the weather service said.
The weather service issued a winter weather warning for Cook, DuPage, Lake and Will counties until noon on Friday. When snowfall is at its heaviest, forecasters expect 1 to 2 inches per hour, outpacing the rate of snowplows and making travel “very difficult to impossible at times,” according to the advisory.
“The Friday morning rush is gonna be trouble,” said Charles Mott, a weather service meteorologist.
State transportation officials ask motorists to consider how important a trip is before they get on the roads. And airlines were canceling flights in and out of O’Hare and Midway airports.
The heaviest snow was expected to hit areas north of the city, while areas farther south could see almost nothing, forecasters said.
“Around 50 miles could be the difference between a foot of snow and very little to nothing,” the weather service stated on its website. “There has been fairly good agreement in the models between the (Interstate 80) and I-90 corridors being a sweet spot for this system. … I-80 and north counties (are) still poised to see 6-10 inches of snow, with localized amounts in excess of foot.”
Once the snow starts, Metra will have workers overnight shoveling and sprinkling salt on platforms in anticipation of a busy morning commute, said Michael Gillis, spokesman for the commuter rail agency. Workers who maintain Metra’s signal and switch equipment will be on hand in case there are any issues.
“We have switch heaters on all our mainline switches and many yards heaters,” Gillis said, referring to the switches that send trains from one track to another. “They help immensely but don’t guarantee there won’t be problems.”
Metra is also leaving engines on overnight after fueling them up to make sure all of the trains are ready for Friday morning. Gillis said Metra budgets for added fuel use in cases like this.
The agency will also have jet blowers that are “like giant snowblowers” operating in the yard to keep snow off the tracks, Gillis said. Considering the forecast, Metra anticipates its northern rail lines may be hit hardest.
Chicago officials planned to send out its entire fleet of 300 salt-spreading plows at 10 p.m. Thursday, when the heavy accumulation was expected to start, Department of Streets and Sanitation Commissioner John Tully said.
“Our priority is going to be the main thoroughfares, Lake Shore Drive, anywhere the first responders need to go to, hospitals and senior centers,” Tully said.
Tully joined other city officials in urging people who have to go out to take extra precautions.
“It’s going to be slow going,” Tully said. “You shouldn’t be in a rush to go anywhere. Please check on your neighbors, especially if they are a senior citizen or if they have any health issues. At this time of year, you really need to do that for everyone in the neighborhood.”
The Chicago Transit Authority had its “sleet trains” on lines that don’t operate 24 hours to remove snow and ice and to spread de-icing fluid on the electrified third rail to avoid any hiccups during Friday’s commute. Track switch heaters will keep them from freezing, and sleet scrapers on rail cars will keep snow and ice off of the third rail, according to the transit agency. Rail cars also have blades attached to their front that remove snow and ice as the trains are going.
Buses throughout the city have engine preheaters that should allow motors to easily start, according to the CTA.
While CPS canceled classes, all schools will be open on Friday, and administrative staff, building engineers and custodians were expected to report to work, the district said. Because of the snow day, students will have an extra day of classes at the end of the year, meaning the last day of school will be June 19.
Residents in the suburbs who rely on Pace suburban buses to get around should expect significant delays once the storm hits, according to a news release from the agency. In fact, Pace officials advised commuters to cancel or postpone any trips that weren’t essential starting Thursday night through the rest of the weekend.
In an emailed statement, the city’s Aviation Department, which oversees the two big airports here, suggested passengers traveling Thursday night and Friday to contact the “airlines on flight status ahead of time, and to arrive early before their scheduled flights.” By 6 p.m., over 180 flights at O’Hare had been canceled and another 313 had been delayed, according to FlightStats, a website that tracks flight statuses at airports across the globe. At Midway, almost 80 flights had been scratched, and 80 more had been delayed.
Even after the city endures this latest snowfall, more is expected this weekend, Mott said.
From Saturday to Sunday, Chicago could receive another 3 to 4 inches of snow. If the forecast holds up, the city will have seen more snow every day this week.
“Weather decided to show up this week,” Mott said. “It’s like, when is it going to stop?”
Monday could be the first day without snow since Feb. 2.
So far this month, 6 inches of snowfall have been recorded at O’Hare. The impending snowfall is forecast to bring Chicago above its normal snowfall for February, 9.1 inches. In 2011, Chicago saw a record 29 inches of snowfall in February.
High temperatures are expected to remain in the 20s over the weekend, the weather service said. Sunday night and Monday morning, temperatures could plummet to around 5 degrees before rebounding to a high of 26.
Source:-http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-city-braces-winter-storm-20180208-story.html
