SNOW GOING
Lake- effect system socks Chicago with nearly 8 inches
Garble, garble, garble. They were the sounds made by the well- insulated mouth ( thick pink coat, zipped all the way up) of seven year- old Jillian Ziliak when asked about the weather Tuesday morning on a North Side sidewalk.
“She said she wants to go sledding,” said her father and interpreter, Zach Ziliak, who carried the little redhead on his shoulders — perhaps the cutest and most economical form of travel through a snowstorm.
Outside the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field, Harry Caray’s statue — wearing a layer of white, arms outstretched— took on a “Game of Thrones” White Walker feel.
To the east, one lakefront runner slowed down long enough to insist she wasn’t punishing herself due to guilty calories of foie gras and French silk pie.
But even for Chicagoans used to snowy, gridlocked traffic, wet socks and frozen windshield wipers, there was an undeniable novelty in the accumulation during a winter season that had been slim on snowfall.
After two days of pummeling by a lake- effect system, nearly 8 inches of snow had piled up in Chicago by Tuesday evening.
A lake- effect snow warning remains in effect until 10 a. m. Wednesday in northwest Indiana, which could see up to a foot of snow in parts of Porter County, according to the National Weather Service.
As of 7 p. m. Tuesday, 7.7 inches of snow was measured at O’Hare International Airport dating back to Sunday night, forecasters said. At Midway International Airport, 7.3 inches were recorded. Most of that snow fell from Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Some northern suburbs in Lake County including Waukegan and Zion saw more than a foot of snow, while about 8 inches were measured in southwest suburban Oak Lawn. The lakeeffect system had mostly moved out of the Chicago area by 5 p. m.
As the snow settled, 920 flights were canceled at O’Hare as of 8: 45 p. m. Tuesday. Seventy- one were grounded at Midway, with minimal delays at both airports.