SNOW SETS RECORD, MORE EXPECTED ON HALLOWEEN
Trick-or-treaters might want to think about adding boots and a raincoat to their costumes as a mix of rain and snow is expected to move through the Chicago area Thursday on Halloween.
The mixture is forecast to move from the northwest suburbs in a southeastern direction from morning through 6 p.m., affecting areas around Rockford, Elgin, Dixon, Ottawa, Joliet, Waukegan, Chicago, Kankakee and Pontiac, according to the National Weather Service.
Temperatures during the day will reach a high of 39 degrees and will drop to 26 degrees at night, the weather service said.
Conditions “could definitely impact the [Halloween] morning commute,” weather service meteorologist Jake Petr said. “I’d take it slow, drive carefully.”
On Wednesday, a messy mix of rain and snow traveled through Chicago, marking a record-breaking and unseasonably early first snowfall for Oct. 30.
By 1 p.m., the storm dumped 1.2 inches of snow over a 12-hour period at O’Hare Airport and left 48,000 Comed customers without power before turning into mainly rain.
The snowfall was the first of the season and came weeks earlier than the average, according to weather service meteorologist Todd Kluber.
While Oct. 30 is the average day for the first snowflakes of the year, Chicago doesn’t get its first measurable snowfall until Nov. 17 on average, Kluber said.
Wednesday’s storm also broke a snowfall record for Oct. 30 previously held in 1923, when Chicago got 0.7 inches of snow, according to weather service meteorologist Jake Petr. Chicago had that record beat by 7 a.m., when O’Hare was recording 0.9 inches.
The storm hit the western suburbs the hardest, dropping 3.4 inches of snow on Downers Grove by 7 a.m., Petr said. Other suburbs got between 2 and 3 inches.
A total of 48,000 customers lost power at some time Wednesday, but that power was quickly restored to 44,000 of them, Comed spokeswoman Cristina Messenburg said. About 5,000 customers were still without power by 3 p.m., she said.
Despite the chaos brought on commuters and homeowners, O’Hare and Midway airports were reporting delays less than 15 minutes on average, and 54 total flight cancellations between them, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.
After Halloween, temperatures will plummet into the 20s and wind chills could make it feel like the teens, Petr said. The weekend is expected to be dry, the weather service said.