Chicago Weather: Residents dig out after winter storm leaves coating of ice, snow, slush on New Year's Day; more expected
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago residents are digging out Saturday after a blast of winter weather Friday that brought snow, ice and rain to the area. And more snow is expected this weekend.
The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation started clearing snow from residential streets early Saturday.
Illinois State Police said the wintry precipitation caused at least a dozen incidents overnight.
There was also a crash on a slick Lake Shore Drive about 6:30 p..m. in which a 26-year-old woman was injured.
The Chicago area only saw its first major storm of the season earlier this week, with several inches of snow and some freezing rain.
More snow is expected early Sunday morning after midnight, ABC 7 meterologist Greg Dutra said. Up to 3 inches could fall, but a widespread 1 to 2 inches is expected south of Interstate 80, with lighter totals north.
WATCH: Icy conditions take down bicyclist on Chicago's lakefront path
Some areas under the ice storm warning Friday were expected to see up to a half an inch of ice. Other areas could also see around a tenth of an inch of ice.
A wintry mix of sleet and freezing rain began moving into the southwest suburbs after 7 a.m. Friday and reached the city after 10 a.m. Ice accumulations were expected to be highest in places like La Salle, Morris, and Pontiac, but Naperville, Joliet and Kankakee could also see significant icing.
There have been reports of 0.25 inches of ice accumulation from Valparaiso to Kankakee and even 0.37 inches in Grundy County, ABC 7 Chicago meteorologist Larry Mowry said.
By the evening, slush from the daytime re-froze into ice.
Multiple crashes were reported on the Dan Ryan Expressway, and there were multiple spinouts on I-80 and Interstate 57 in the southwest suburbs, and ice covered trees and cars.
People could be seen shuffling cautiously in the northwest suburbs, too.
"We all got through 2020, and if this is what 2021 is throwing at us, we're ready for it," Chicago resident Alex Jay said.
The Illinois Department of Transportation loaded up a revolving fleet of trucks with salt in Villa Park, and more than 200 plows and salt trucks tried to keep streets clear in Chicago.
Until 5 p.m., light rain and wintry mix fell throughout the area without significant icing as temperatures stayed at or above freezing. Between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., temperatures were expected to drop and anywhere from 1 to 4 inches of show was expected to accumulate, with higher totals in the northern suburbs.
Lake (IL) County and northern Cook County could see snow totals greater than 4 inches if lake enhancement occurs, said ABC7 meteorologist Larry Mowry.
ComEd said as of 3:10 p.m. there were 112 power outages reported affecting 2,910 customers system-wide. The hardest hit area was Kankakee County, where 690 customers were without power. In Chicago, 178 customers are without power, the company said.
In Northbrook, the snow appeared to be heavy and wet enough to bring down some power lines.
A similar situation took place in Mackinaw, near Peoria, but flames and smoke were visible there.
It happened just after 8 p.m. on Shermer Road in downtown Northbrook. Some of the lines were sparking on the wet pavement, but ComEd was able to quickly resolve the issue, Northbrook police said.
WATCH: Latest ABC7 AccuWeather Forecast
The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation has deployed 211 snow vehicles to keep roadways clear, first focusing on Chicago's arterial streets and Lake Shore Drive.
The Illinois Tollway said Friday morning it was mobilizing its full fleet of 196 snowplows and opening its Snow Operations Center to manage the agency's system-wide response to the winter storm.
Both O'Hare and Midway airports experienced minor flight delay. As of 3:15 p.m., O'Hare reported 220 cancelled flights while Midway reported 42 cancelled flights.
