A relatively meager snowfall created huge headaches for commuters on Friday. CBS's Courtney Gousman capture this video on the Kennedy Expy. around 7:30 a.m. (Source: CBS Chicago)
More than an inch of snow fell on Chicago today, finally ending a streak that began 335 days ago.
At 9:30 a.m., 1.1 inches of snow was recorded at O'Hare International Airport since midnight. That's the first day an inch or more of snow has fallen there since last February. The previous record was a stretch of 310 days set in 1940.
This morning's light snow also marks the latest it has gone during a winter before an inch of snow has fallen over a day.
Besides ending record streaks, the snow played havoc with the morning rush hour.
Snow started falling in the Chicago area around 4:45 a.m. Within half an hour, Illinois state police were reporting slick conditions on roads and had already responded to six minor accidents. Shortly after 6 a.m., a nine-car crash was reported near North Avenue on the Kennedy Expressway, but there were no reports of serious injuries.
By 7:15 a.m., state police said they had responded to about two dozen crashes on area expressways.
The snow was expected to end this morning.
“Something like this wouldn’t be newsworthy if it wasn’t for the fact it hasn’t snowed all year,” said Gino Izzi, another meteorologist for the weather service.
Still, the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation deployed almost 200 of its 284 plow trucks to clear streets of snow and apply salt to the roads.
"We’re going to be monitoring the weather but at this point we’re looking at snowfall at least through the rush hour," said Anne Sheahan, spokeswoman for Streets and Sanitation.
The next bout of snow is not expected until next week.
"We don’t have much of a chance of snow for the next five or six days," Izzi said.
pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas
Streak of days without inch of snow finally over
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Streak of days without inch of snow finally over
