The Chicago Tribune is reporting that over 1,000 Chicago-area flights had been cancelled. Greater than 850 flights out of Chicago O’Hare International has been cancelled and Midway Airport has cancelled a minimum of 230 flights.
The cancellations come as a winter storm is starting to drop snow at the city. The U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) is predicting as much as 12 inches of snow could fall the Chicago area today.
The NWS has also issued a winter storm warning and a hazardous weather outlook for the greater Chicago area that lasts until midnight. From the NWS warning:
A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW MEANS SEVERE WINTER CLIMATIC CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED. A GREAT DEAL OF SNOW ARE FORECAST MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. CONSIDER ONLY TRAVELING IF IN AN EMERGENCY. IN CASE YOU MUST TRAVEL…KEEP AN ADDITIONAL FLASHLIGHT… FOOD…AND WATER FOR YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY.
Schools throughout Chicago were closed or closed early today. The Tribune report states that the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation have been salting the roads in and across the city since early this morning, and the Illinois Tollway has snowplows standing by.
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