Chicago is going to be one of the hardest hit cities in this super snowstorm that will cover more than 2,000 miles in length. A snow Emergency has been declared in Boston. Already cities such as Dallas/Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, St. Louis and others have been buried with snow often with blizzard conditions and whiteout conditions.
So far this winter, 2,660 dump truck loads of snow has been hauled out of Boston. A number of cities exhausted their snow removal budged several storms ago.
Now, these notes from Chicago:
* Freezing spray on Lake Michigan. A Heavy Freezing Spray Warning is in effect.
* A weather buoy in South Lake Michigan now reporting 23 degrees with wind gusts to 53 mph.
* At Chicago O’hare Airport, the present weather is heavy snow with visibility only 1/4th mile with near whiteout conditions. Temperature 22 with NE winds gusting to 43 mph,
Here are some of the more important parts of a recent special statement from the National Weather Service in Chicago:
ACCUMULATIONS…SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES WITH ACCUMULATION
RATES LIKELY REACHING OR EXCEEDING 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR. STORM
TOTAL SNOWFALL OF 10 TO 16 INCHES IS LIKELY TOWARD ROCKFORD AND
DIXON. THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL TOTALS ARE LIKELY DOWNWIND OF LAKE
MICHIGAN IN THE CHICAGO METROPOLITAN AREA INTO NORTHWEST INDIANA
WHERE 12 TO 20 INCHES OF SNOW IS LIKELY…WITH POSSIBLE
LOCALIZED TOTALS UP TO TWO FEET.
* WINDS…NORTHEAST WINDS FROM 20 TO 35 MPH…WITH WIND GUSTS UP
TO 40 MPH. GUSTS WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE LATER THIS EVENING
AND CONTINUE OVERNIGHT TO 40 TO 50 MPH. EVEN STRONGER WINDS ARE
LIKELY NEAR THE IMMEDIATE LAKE SHORE WITH SUSTAINED WINDS OF 30
TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS BETWEEN 50 AND 60 MPH.
* BLIZZARD CONDITIONS…STRONG WINDS COMBINED WITH CONSIDERABLE
BLOWING AND OCCASIONALLY HEAVY FALLING SNOW WILL REDUCE
VISIBILITIES TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES.
* THUNDERSTORMS…ISOLATED SNOW-PRODUCING THUNDERSTORMS ARE
EXPECTED TO DEVELOP TONIGHT…RESULTING IN LOCALIZED INTENSE
SNOWFALL RATES. IT IS NOT UNCOMMON FOR SNOWFALL RATES TO
EXCEED 4 INCHES PER HOUR IN THUNDER SNOW MAKING TRAVEL NEARLY
IMPOSSIBLE.
* TRAVEL…ROAD CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE TO DETERIORATE AS SNOW
CONTINUES TO OVERSPREAD NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA.
TRAVEL IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN TREACHEROUS AS WINDS INCREASE
RESULTING IN WHITE OUT CONDITIONS. UNNECESSARY TRAVEL SHOULD BE
AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING AS MORE
THAN HALF OF THE FATALITIES IN BLIZZARDS HAVE OCCURRED AS A
RESULT OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS.
* POWER OUTAGES…THE COMBINATION OF STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS
ALONG WITH POSSIBLY HEAVY WET SNOW STICKING TO POWER LINES
COULD RESULT IN POWER OUTAGES. DUE TO THE PROLONGED NATURE OF
VERY ADVERSE CONDITIONS…PLAN ACCORDINGLY FOR THE POSSIBILITY
OF A PROLONGED DISRUPTION IN COMMERCIAL POWER.
