Chicago Weather: Hundreds of flights cancelled ahead of weather

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Thursday, October 2, 2014
Flights canceled ahead of weather
Midway and O'Hare airports canceled hundreds of flights in anticipation of bad weather Thursday.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Hundreds of flights at Chicago's Midway and O'Hare airports have been canceled Thursday in anticipation of storms.

As of 8:35 p.m., The Chicago Department of Aviation reported more than 540 flights were cancelled at O'Hare, and approximately 300 flights were canceled at Midway. O'Hare reported delays of 35 minutes, while Midway reported delays of 30 minutes or more.

The cancellations due to weather comes as O'Hare and Midway continue to operate at a lower scale due to the FAA fire last week. Operations at the Aurora facility are not expected to be up to full speed until October 13.

Rain was expected to start in the evening with the heaviest rain falling along and south of that I-80 corridor. The northern suburbs most likely will get the lesser amounts of rain, said ABC 7 Meteorologist Tracy Butler.

Since just about the entire area is under a slight risk of severe storms, it's possible that any storms that develop could become severe with large hail and strong winds, Butler said.

The main severe threat would most likely be during the mid and late evening hours.