Tag Archives: winter storm

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Weather forecast: Chicago-area snow storm could make for messy morning commute | Radar

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CHICAGO (WLS) — Snow could make a mess of Wednesday morning’s commute, as flakes have begun to fall across the Chicago area.

A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for Boone, DeKalb, Kane, Lee, McHenry, Ogle and Winnebago counties until 3 p.m.; eastern Will, Grundy, Kankakee, LaSalle, Livingston, northern Will, southern Cook and southern Will counties until 6 p.m.; central Cook, DuPage, Lake and northern Cook until 9 p.m. and until 1 a.m. EST in Lake and Porter counties in Indiana.

Snow is expected to be steady through the morning, and ease up by mid-afternoon, ABC7 Chicago meteorologist Tracy Butler said.

She forecast 2 to 4 inches total, with up to 5 inches in Indiana.

Temperatures will be in the low- to mid-30s, with poor visibility at times, Butler said.

The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation has deployed over 200 salt spreaders to focus on arterial routes.

Light snow fell in the city about 5 a.m., but it was coming down at a steady clip and accumulating on some surfaces.

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Snow was coming down fast in Oak Brook about 5 a.m., and the roads were partially snow-covered.

The main roads were cleared for the most part but were very slick.

Near Roosevelt Road and the Eisenhower Expressway, snow can be seen sticking to the side roads.

It’s melting on the highways, but it’s a slippery mess.

Voting now underway for Chicago’s ‘You Name a Snowplow’ contest

In Forest Park, the snow is accumulating, covering the grass and neighborhoods there.

And in south suburban Minooka, the drive was just treacherous early Wednesday.

Snow plows could also be seen in the suburbs.

Motorists are advised to give them space and slow down.

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48-hour storm could leave Twin Cities with 6-10 inches of snow

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MINNEAPOLIS — After a quiet start to the New Year, we jump into our third big storm of the past four weeks — with this one spanning more than two days.

The National Weather Service has issued an ice storm warning in several south-central Minnesota counties. Much of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities, is under a winter storm warning.

RELATED: Minnesota School Closings & Delays

Light snow started to fall in the southern metro and down south Monday night, and it will continue overnight, but it won’t advance much farther north until the middle of Tuesday morning.

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Tuesday will be a warmer day, with a high of 32 degrees in the metro. But this will be problematic because it will toy with the phases of precipitation, and create some wet, heavy snow.

The heaviest snowfall will occur Tuesday mid-morning through mid-afternoon. We could see rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour before a lull in the action in the evening. Wind speeds will also be between 10-15 mph, which will cause some blowing snow.

Lighter bands take over Tuesday evening, and it will keep on lightly snowing in the metro through early Thursday, with the day’s high temp dropping into the mid-20s

The metro is expected to get between 6-10 inches of accumulation by Thursday, while areas north and west of the metro could see even more. Parts of southwestern Minnesota could get more than a foot of snow.

Friday’s high temp will only be in the high teens in the metro, but we’ll begin a slow warmup through the weekend, with highs in the upper 20s to start out the work week.

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Travelers “beyond frustrated” by Southwest Airlines cancellations: “It’s been hell”

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Southwest Airlines apologizes as thousands of flights are canceled and delayed


Southwest Airlines apologizes as thousands of flights are canceled and delayed

02:22

The winter storm that disrupted travel plans over the weekend and created an epic pile-on of flight cancellations for Southwest Airlines left the carrier’s passengers “beyond frustrated,” as one put it to CBS DFW. Thousands of families were stranded, with some waiting days to board planes.

Southwest customers at Dallas Love Field expressed disappointment, frustration and anger Monday after facing multiple flight delays and cancellations since before Christmas. 

Talia Jones, a Southwest Air customer, told CBS DFW she was “beyond frustrated and hurt because I can’t see my dad. So yeah, it’s very disappointing.”

As of 5 a.m. ET Tuesday, Southwest was responsible for an overwhelming majority of U.S. cancellations for the new day, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.com: 2,495 out of 2,809 for all carriers.

Two-thirds of Southwest’s flights had been canceled as of Monday afternoon, according to FlightAware.  

On Monday afternoon, the board at Dallas Love Field, showed every single arrival had been canceled, according to reporter Kelly Laco.

At Chicago’s Midway International Airport – where Southwest is the main carrier – the wait times were high, and patience was running low Monday night, CBS Chicago said.

The situation  was described by one traveler as nothing short of a mess. In addition to long lines taking up space, hundreds and hundreds of bags were waiting to be claimed as the cancellations and delays kept piling up.

“It’s been hell,” said Denzil Smothers, whose flight was canceled. 

The federal Department of Transportation on Monday said it would investigate the meltdown, saying it was “concerned by Southwest Airlines’ disproportionate and unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays as well as the failure to properly support customers experiencing a cancellation or delay.” 

“As more information becomes available the Department will closely examine whether cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan as well as all other pertinent DOT rules,” the department said in a statement.

Traveler Michael Bauzon and his family planned on flying out of Orlando International Airport on Friday to return home to Indianapolis in time for Christmas on Sunday. Instead, the four spent the holidays in a hotel after their flight was canceled, Bauzon told CBS affiliate WKMG, and were back at the airport on Monday — where they continued to wait.

“This morning we got here at 4:30 for a 7:05 flight, we looked it up, and oh it had just been canceled,” he said, gesturing to a line snaking in front of the Southwest service counter. “It’s a four- to five-hour line … before they can get us on a flight — if they can get us on a flight,” he said.

Passengers lined up by the Southwest Airlines counter at San Francisco International Airport on Dec. 26, 2022.

Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images


Widespread storm, outdated tech

In a statement Monday that opened with “heartfelt apologies,” Southwest said that its geography made it “uniquely” vulnerable to the storm, with half of the airports in which it flies affected by winter weather.

“We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. This forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity,” the statement said. 

“We anticipate additional changes with an already reduced level of flights as we approach the coming New Year holiday travel period,” it noted. 

The company also blames a lack of technology. “Part of what we’re suffering is a lack of tools. We’ve talked an awful lot about modernizing the operation, and the need to do that,” CEO Bob Jordan said in an internal message on Sunday that was reported by several media outlets and the flight attendants’ union.

Jammed phone lines, systems

Southwest directed customers away from jammed phone lines, noting that it was experiencing “system issues” amid elevated demand.

Spokesperson Chris Perry said the airline’s online booking and check-in systems are still operating, but were also jammed because of “abnormally high” volumes of traffic on their site. “We are re-accommodating as many Customers as possible based on available space,” he told CBS News.

As Southwest blamed technological issues, the flight attendants’ union, Transit Workers Union 556, accused the airline of contributing to the problem by underinvesting in technology for years.

“The lack of technology has left the airline relying on manual solutions and personal phone calls, leaving flight attendants on hold with Southwest Airlines for up to 17 hours at a time simply to be released to go home after their trip, or while attempting to secure a hotel room or know where their next trip will be,” the union said in a statement. “While reroutes and rescheduling are understood to be a part of the job in the airline industry, the massive scale of the failure over the past few days points to a shirking of responsibility over many years for investing in and implementing technology that could help solve for many of the issues that plague flight attendants and passengers alike.”

The union and airline have been in contract negotiations for four years. 

— With reporting by Zel Elvi, Kathryn Krupnik, Kris Van Cleave and Brian Dakss.



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Business

Southwest Airlines cancels thousands of flights after winter snowstorm

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The winter storm that disrupted thousands of travel plans over the weekend has created an epic pile-on of flight cancellations for Southwest Airlines, leaving thousands of families stranded, with some waiting for days to fly back home. 

Two-thirds of Southwest’s flights had been canceled as of Monday afternoon, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware — far more than any other airline. With some 2,700 Southwest flights canceled, another 700 were delayed Monday, FlightAware found.  

On Monday afternoon, the board at Dallas Love Field, the airline’s main hub, showed every single arrival had been canceled, according to reporter Kelly Laco.

The airline canceled more than 1,600 flights on Sunday, and 1,300 each day last week on Thursday and Friday.

The federal Department of Transportation on Monday said it would investigate the meltdown, saying it was “concerned by Southwest Airlines’ disproportionate and unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays as well as the failure to properly support customers experiencing a cancellation or delay.” 

“As more information becomes available the Department will closely examine whether cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan as well as all other pertinent DOT rules,” the department said in a statement.

Traveler Michael Bauzon and his family planned on flying out of Orlando International Airport on Friday to return home to Indianapolis in time for Christmas on Sunday. Instead, the four spent the holidays in a hotel after their flight was canceled, Bauzon told CBS affiliate WKMG, and were back at the airport on Monday — where they continued to wait.

“This morning we got here at 4:30 for a 7:05 flight, we looked it up, and oh it had just been canceled,” he said, gesturing to a line snaking in front of the Southwest service counter. “It’s a four- to five-hour line … before they can get us on a flight — if they can get us on a flight,” he said.

Widespread storm, outdated tech

In a statement Monday that opened with “heartfelt apologies,” Southwest said that its geography made it “uniquely” vulnerable to the storm, with half of the airports in which it flies affected by winter weather.

“We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. This forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity,” the statement said. 

“We anticipate additional changes with an already reduced level of flights as we approach the coming New Year holiday travel period,” it noted. 

The company also blames a lack of technology. “Part of what we’re suffering is a lack of tools. We’ve talked an awful lot about modernizing the operation, and the need to do that,” CEO Bob Jordan said in an internal message on Sunday that was reported by several media outlets and the flight attendants’ union.

Jammed phone lines, systems

Southwest directed customers away from jammed phone lines, noting that it was experiencing “system issues” amid elevated demand.

Spokesperson Chris Perry said the airline’s online booking and check-in systems are still operating, but were also jammed because of “abnormally high” volumes of traffic on their site. “We are re-accommodating as many Customers as possible based on available space,” he told CBS News.

As Southwest blamed technological issues, the flight attendants’ union, Transit Workers Union 556, accused the airline of contributing to the problem by underinvesting in technology for years.

“The lack of technology has left the airline relying on manual solutions and personal phone calls, leaving flight attendants on hold with Southwest Airlines for up to 17 hours at a time simply to be released to go home after their trip, or while attempting to secure a hotel room or know where their next trip will be,” the union said in a statement. “While reroutes and rescheduling are understood to be a part of the job in the airline industry, the massive scale of the failure over the past few days points to a shirking of responsibility over many years for investing in and implementing technology that could help solve for many of the issues that plague flight attendants and passengers alike.”

The union and airline have been in contract negotiations for four years. 

— With reporting by Zel Elvi, Kathryn Krupnik and Kris Van Cleave.



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Buffalo Snow Storm 2022: Death toll rises to 12 in western New York

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BUFFALO, New York (WABC) — The death toll rose to 12 on Sunday from a snowstorm that dumped up to 4 feet of snow on Buffalo and western New York.

Some of those people were found in cars and some were even found in the street, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said. “We know there are people who have been stuck in cars for more than two days.”

For the first time in the Buffalo Fire Department’s history, they could not respond to any calls because of the conditions.

The storm unleashed its full fury on Buffalo, with hurricane-force winds and snow causing whiteout conditions, paralyzing emergency response efforts – New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said almost every fire truck in the city was stranded – and shutting down the airport until Tuesday, according to officials.

In a storm briefing on Sunday evening, Hochul said that the storm had surpassed the blizzard of 1977 in terms of ferocity and longevity.

She urged residents to stay off the roads and said the driving ban for the City of Buffalo is not expected to be lifted on Monday.

Of the 12 storm-related deaths that have been confirmed so far, the ages of the victims range from 26 years old to 93 years old. Officials said they expect that death toll to rise by the end of the night.

The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 43 inches (109 centimeters) at 7 a.m. Sunday.

Crews were out on Christmas Day, in an attempt to reach anyone who is still stranded.

Freezing conditions and day-old power outages had Buffalonians scrambling to get out of their homes to anywhere that had heat. But with city streets under a thick blanket of white, that wasn’t an option for people like Jeremy Manahan, who charged his phone in his parked car after almost 29 hours without electricity.

RELATED: Check the AccuWeather forecast

“There’s one warming shelter, but that would be too far for me to get to. I can’t drive, obviously, because I’m stuck,” Manahan said. “And you can’t be outside for more than 10 minutes without getting frostbit.”

Ditjak Ilunga of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was on his way to visit relatives in Hamilton, Ontario, for Christmas with his daughters Friday when their SUV was trapped in Buffalo. Unable to get help, they spent hours with the engine running in the vehicle buffeted by wind and nearly buried in snow.

By 4 a.m. Saturday, with their fuel nearly gone, Ilunga made a desperate choice to risk the howling storm to reach a nearby shelter. He carried 6-year-old Destiny on his back while 16-year-old Cindy clutched their Pomeranian puppy, stepping into his footprints as they trudged through drifts.

“If I stay in this car I’m going to die here with my kids,” he recalled thinking, but believing they had to try. He cried when the family walked through the shelter doors. “It’s something I will never forget in my life.”

The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle. But heat and lights were steadily being restored across the U.S. According to poweroutage.us, less than 200,000 customers were without power Sunday at 3 p.m. EDT – down from a peak of 1.7 million.

Concerns about rolling blackouts across eastern states subsided Sunday after PJM Interconnection said its utilities could meet the day’s peak electricity demand. The mid-Atlantic grid operator had called for its 65 million consumers to conserve energy amid the freeze Saturday.

In North Carolina, less than 6,500 customers had no power – down from a peak of 485,000. Across New England, power has been restored to tens of thousands with just under 83,000 people, mostly in Maine, still without it. In New York, about 34,000 households were still without power Sunday, including 26,000 in Erie County, where utility crews and hundreds of National Guard troops battled high winds and struggled with getting stuck in the snow.

Storm-related deaths were reported in recent days all over the country: 12 in Erie County, New York, ranging in age from 26 to 93 years old, and another in Niagara County where a 27-year-old man was overcome by carbon monoxide after snow blocked his furnace; 10 in Ohio, including an electrocuted utility worker and those killed in multiple car crashes; six motorists killed in crashes in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky; a Vermont woman struck by a falling branch; an apparently homeless man found amid Colorado’s subzero temperatures; and a woman who fell through Wisconsin river ice.

In Jackson, Mississippi, city officials on Christmas Day announced that residents must now boil their drinking water due to water lines bursting in the frigid temperatures While in Tampa, Florida, the thermometer plunged below freezing for the first time in almost five years, according to the National Weather Service – a drop conducive to cold-blooded iguanas falling out of trees.

In Buffalo, William Kless was up at 3 a.m. Sunday. He called his three children at their mother’s house to wish them Merry Christmas and then headed off on his snowmobile for a second day spent shuttling people from stuck cars and frigid homes to a church operating as a warming shelter.

Through heavy, wind-driven snow, he brought about 15 people to the church in Buffalo on Saturday, he said, including a family of five transported one-by-one. He also got a man in need of dialysis, who had spent 17 hours stranded in his car, back home, where he could receive treatment.

“I just felt like I had to,” Kless said

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.

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Four things to know about the massive winter storm hitting this Christmas

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A massive winter storm pummeled much of the U.S. on Saturday with freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall on Christmas Eve, resulting in nearly two dozen deaths and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. 

Here’s what to know about the powerful Arctic front:

At least 23 deaths have been attributed to the storm

At least 23 people have died in the storm as of Saturday evening, due to dangerous driving conditions, delayed emergency services and exposure to the freezing weather, according to NBC News.

Four people were killed in a 46-car pileup in Ohio on Friday, in addition to five others who died in separate crashes in Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri earlier in the week.

Three people have also died in Erie County, N.Y., where blizzard conditions prevented emergency services from reaching two of the individuals in time to provide medical care. 

Two more people died from environmental exposure in Denver, while a man in Colorado Springs, Colo., reportedly died while trying to escape the sub-zero temperatures.

Hundreds of thousands in North Carolina lose power

Nearly 340,000 people in the Carolinas lost power on Saturday amid rolling blackouts, The Washington Post reported.

“Due to the extreme cold temperatures and subsequent demand for power around much of the nation, electricity supplies are very tight,” Duke Energy, which serves customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, said in a press release.

As of Saturday night, the energy company had restored power to most North Carolinians, with only about 14,000 remaining without power.

Hochul deploys National Guard to hard-hit Buffalo

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) deployed the National Guard to Erie County on Friday night, as the Buffalo region continued to face blizzard conditions.

“This may turn out to be the worst storm in our community’s history,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said on Saturday, per The New York Times.

Buffalo remained under a blizzard warning as of Saturday night, with emergency workers still working to rescue stranded motorists, the Times reported.

Flight cancellations strand travelers on Christmas Eve

More than 3,300 flights were cancelled on Christmas Eve, according to the commercial flight tracker FlightAware.

While the cancellations left thousands more travelers stranded on the holiday weekend, Saturday represented an improvement over the day before. On Friday, more than 20 percent of flights — nearly 6,000 — were cancelled, according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“Impacts continue today but FAA expects that the most extreme disruptions are behind us as airline and airport operations gradually recover,” Buttigieg said on Twitter.

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Hochul declares state of emergency in New York ahead of Winter Storm Elliott

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Most of New York is going to have a dreary Christmas weekend.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday declared a state of emergency for the entirety of New York in preparation for the massive storm that’s forecast to wallop the northeast over the holiday weekend.

The measure will go into effect at 6 a.m. Friday when Winter Storm Elliott — dubbed a “once-in-a-generation” weather event by the National Weather Service — is expected to bear down on the area.

“With Mother Nature throwing everything she has at us this weekend, I encourage New Yorkers who are considering traveling for the holidays to do so before Friday or after Sunday to stay safe,” Hochul said in a statement.

A so-called bomb cyclone, when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm, was predicted to develop late Thursday night into Friday near the Great Lakes.

Blizzard warnings, coastal flood warnings, high wind warnings, wind chill warnings and winter storm warnings are all in effect throughout New York.

A pedestrian waits at a street corner as a bomb cyclone develops late Thursday night into Friday near the Great Lakes.
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A 41-year-old homeless man stands next to a donated tent near the expressway where he is living on Dec. 22, 2022 in Chicago.
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Pedestrians navigate snow-covered streets on Dec. 22, 2022 in Chicago.
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Blizzard warnings, coastal flood warnings and high wind warnings are all in effect throughout New York.
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The state is placing a full commercial vehicle ban on I-90 from Rochester to the Pennsylvania Border, a roughly 135-mile stretch. Several roads in Erie County, which expects to get hit with 3 feet of snow Monday, will also be closed.

More than 5,000 flights have already been canceled ahead of the winter storm expected to bring blizzard conditions and record-setting temperature drops.

Parts of upstate New York will be slammed with snow while areas closer to the coast, including New York City, will face a drenching rain for most of Friday, forecasters said.

More than 5,000 flights have already been canceled ahead of the winter storm.
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From Friday to Saturday, winds will likely reach up to 60 miles per hour as temperatures quickly plummet by up to 35 degrees in some regions, causing freezing, below-zero wind chills and icy road conditions.

“This is not like a snow day when you were a kid,” President Joe Biden said Thursday. “This is serious stuff.”

Other states have already felt the effects of the moving storm.

In Wyoming, highway patrol troopers responded to over 100 wrecks within 12 hours during a massive whiteout that the agency compared to Antarctic conditions.

One person died in Kansas City, Missouri after their car overturned into an icy creek, police said.

Denver hit its lowest temperatures in 32 years on Thursday, morning when the temperature dropped to minus 24.

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Chicago weather forecast calls for several inches of snow; Winter Storm Warning in Illinois today, Blizzard Warning in NW Indiana

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CHICAGO (WLS) — A winter weather snow storm is moving into the Chicago area Thursday, with several inches of snow forecast along with high winds and dangerous wind chills.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for the entire Chicago area and northwest Indiana.

School Closings: See Full List

The warning is in effect from 9 a.m. Thursday until Saturday at 6 a.m. for DeKalb, Kane, Kendall, Grundy, Livingston and McHenry counties. For the rest of the Chicago area, the alert is in effect from noon Thursday until 6 a.m. Saturday, with the alert starting at 3 p.m. for areas in northwest Indiana.

WATCH | Latest 7-day Chicago weather forecast

ABC7 Chicago Meteorologist Tracy Butler said the storm could start moving into the western suburbs by 9 a.m., with the city seeing snow by noon and northwest Indiana by 3 p.m.

Butler said three to six inches of snow are expected from the storm, with higher amounts possible in northwest Indiana. Snow could fall at a rate of as much as an inch an hour Thursday.

Hundreds of flight cancellations at O’Hare, Midway airports from Chicago winter snow storm

One of the main hazards will be blowing snow from high winds. Butler said wind gusts of up to 50 miles-per-hour are possible.

Porter County, Indiana has a Blizzard Warning in effect from 3 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Saturday. Gov. Eric Holcomb has activated nearly 150 members of the National Guard to help stranded drivers as officials in Indiana and Illinois plead with people to stay off the roads.

Butler said temperatures could drop sharply Thursday, with wind chills well below zero by early Friday morning.

Meanwhile, Cook County says it’s prepared for the snow.

Sixty snow plows are on hand to both salt and clear the roads. Cook County is also deploying about 65 drivers and 16,000 tons of salt is available.

Metra will run a more limited schedule due to the weather but will have extra staffing on hand to battle the elements.

CTA said it will run trains and buses as normal on Thursday and Friday, but warned there could be delays due to the weather. Anyone who may be waiting outside for a bus is advised to bundle up.

ComEd prepares for power outages

ComEd said it is positioning people and equipment to be able to respond quickly to potential power outages.

“We are positioning our people and equipment to respond quickly and safely to any interruptions that result from this snowstorm,” said Terence Donnelly, president and COO of ComEd. “We realize that any interruption is an inconvenience to our customers, especially during the holidays. Avoiding power outages and restoring service quickly is critical. We have strengthened our system over the years to reduce the impacts a storm like this can have on our customers.”

They said they will have more than 1,800 utility workers on the system including 350 line workers from around the country to respond to any potential outages.

ComEd customers can text OUT to 26633 (COMED) to report an outage and receive restoration information as well as following ComEd on Twitter or on Facebook. Customers can also call 1-800 EDISON1 (1-800-334-7661), or report outages via the website at ComEd.com/report or use the ComEd app.

ComEd warns people never to approach a downed power line and not to approach ComEd crews to ask them about restoration times as they may be working on live electrical equipment.

What can I do if my flight is canceled, delayed? How to prepare for likely 2022 holiday travel mess

Hundreds of flights canceled:

Hundreds of flights have been canceled at O’Hare and Midway airports Thursday..

As of 4:30 a.m., 388 flights have been canceled at O’Hare Airport, with 156 flight cancellations at Midway Airport

Blizzard conditions are expected from the plains and the Midwest to the east coast, with high winds and plunging temperatures.

The delays and cancellations is only adding to the chaos at airports packed with holiday travelers.

What can I do if my flight is canceled, delayed? How to prepare for likely 2022 holiday travel mess

The roads will also be busy, as many families travel by car for the holidays.

Storm forces closures for schools and attractions

Christkindlmarket will close early due to the storm. Its downtown Chicago and Aurora locations will reduce their hours and close at 4 p.m. on Thursday, while the Wrigleyville market will be closed all day Thursday. All three markets will be closed Friday.

Lincoln Park Zoo will be closed Friday and Zoo Lights canceled due to the forecasted high winds and frigid temperatures. Anyone with tickets to ZooLights on December 23 should check their emails for more information.

The Adler Planetarium announced it would close Friday and Saturday in anticipation of the storm. It was scheduled to be closed Sunday.

Chicago Public Schools are planning to be open Thursday, but after-school activities are canceled. Friday was already a scheduled day off.

Click here to see a full list of school closures

What are criteria for a blizzard?

In order for a blizzard warning to be issued, the following conditions need to prevail for three hours or longer:

-The storm needs to have sustained wind or frequent gusts to 35 miles-per-hour or greater

-Falling and/or blowing snow reducing visibility to less than a quarter mile

Stay tuned to ABC7 Eyewitness News and ABC7Chicago.com for the latest forecast and snowfall amounts as the winter storm approaches.

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Chicago weather: Forecast calls for snow this week, with more than a foot of snowfall Thursday, Friday; Winter Storm Watch issued

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CHICAGO (WLS) — The Chicago weather forecast this week shows a significant winter storm that has the potential to dump upwards of a foot of snow before Christmas.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for the entire Chicago area and northwest Indiana from 6 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Saturday.

ABC7 Meteorologist Tracy Butler says some light snow could begin Thursday afternoon, with heaviest snow coming Thursday night into the day on Friday.

High winds and frigid temperatures will also lead to blizzard-like conditions Thursday night into Friday morning.

Butler said the storm could bring a potential of 6 to 12 inches of snow by the weekend, with higher amounts possible further east from lake-effect snow.

WATCH | Latest 7-day Chicago weather forecast

High winds in excess of 55 mph are expected while the heaviest snow is falling, ABC7 Meteorologist Larry Mowry said, adding that he expects the Winter Storm Watch will be upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning or Blizzard Warning later in the week.

“The concern will be not only the snow that’s coming down, but the blowing snow, which will reduce visibility,” Mowry said. “And because the winds will be this strong, there is the threat of power outages Thursday night through the day on Friday.”

POLAR PLUNGE | 1st week of winter brings snow and bitterly cold temperatures

Mowry said the heavy snow and high winds will combine to create major travel impacts, with “extremely difficult to impossible travel from Thursday night through the day on Friday.”

Temps will also crash from the teens on Friday to single-digits over the weekend, with the high winds creating dangerously cold conditions. Friday will starts with wind chills as low as -20 and -30, and will stay well below zero through the day, Mowry said.

The forecast for this week has forced many holiday travelers to scramble to change their plans. Most airlines currently have weather waivers in place, which means you can change your flights for free if you have flexible travel plans.

Stay tuned to ABC7 Eyewitness News and ABC7Chicago.com for the latest forecast and snowfall amounts as the winter storm approaches.

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Business

ERCOT Issues ‘Tight Grid Conditions’ Notice as Winter Weather Hits North Texas – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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As portions of North Texas are under a Winter Storm Warning, ERCOT has issued a notice saying it anticipates “tight grid conditions” until Friday.

At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, a graph provided on ERCOT’s website shows the current demand at 61,736 MW and a supply of 65,569 MW, a difference of only 3,833 MW.

The graph also shows a “Quick Start” capacity of 67,869 MW, meaning extra generating units can come on-line within 10 minutes of receiving ERCOT notice.

Those “Quick Start” units could provide an additional 2,300 MW, if those units are requested to come on-line by ERCOT.

As the graph progresses through the night, in the 10 p.m. hour, there is expected to only be 1,365 MW left between the supply and demand, without any “Quick Start” units.

The notice issued by ERCOT stated, “To ensure all possible generation is available to serve system demand, ERCOT has requested that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) exercise its enforcement discretion with respect to generator exceedances of TCEQ air permit limitations.”

While the notice is in place, power providers will more likely get forgiveness for environmental issues.

At this time, ERCOT has not issued any alerts asking people to conserve. But the wind has died down significantly, leaving the state with less wind energy on the grid into Thursday morning.

An energy industry source briefed on the situation tells NBC 5, the tightest spot is expected to be around 8 a.m. when people use more power as they wake up and the wind is not expected to return until later in the morning. But right now, ERCOT still projects it will have plenty of reserve power to call in if needed.

A spokesperson for ERCOT issued a statement to NBC DFW saying “Our forecast shows there is sufficient generation to meet expected demand and we continue to inform the market and others of evolving weather conditions. Out of an abundance of caution, ERCOT requested enforcement discretion earlier today so that no generation units become unavailable due to environmental limits. We will continue our aggressive approach to meet the energy needs of Texas.”

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