A winter storm warning for the Chicago area was called off six hours early, at 3 a.m., Friday, but the aftereffects of the city's first significant snowfall of the season can still be felt through icy roads and frigid temperatures.
As the Chicago Tribune reports, between 4 and 8 inches fell across the Chicago area beginning Thursday morning, including 4.9 inches recorded at O'Hare International Airport and 6 inches at Midway.
The snowfall caused the cancellation of more than 500 flights at the city's airports Thursday, but both were reportedly back to normal operations Friday.
(Scroll down to watch a report on the storm's impact on Chicago's roads and airports.)
Road conditions, however, remain less than ideal. Guy Tridgell, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation, told the Chicago Sun-Times that blowing and drifting snow, plus slippery roads, will still present a challenge for motorists. Icy conditions Thursday caused a number of spinouts, in addition to a crash involving four cars and a tractor trailer on the Tri-State Tollway that injured five people, one critically, as NBC Chicago reported.
"The public needs to be aware that even though it has stopped snowing, slippery conditions will persist," Tridgell told the Sun-Times.
Though snow has come to an end, for now, in the Chicago area, a winter storm warning remains in effect for northwest Indiana, where between a total of 6 and 10 inches could fall before the storm is said and done later Friday, ABC Chicago reports.
Looking ahead to Saturday, temperatures in the area are expected to hit "the lowest readings of the season" and possibly the lowest temperatures since temperatures plunged to 9 below on Feb. 10, 2011, the Chicago Weather Center reports. Additionally, some snow is predicted Saturday, and twice more during the following week -- on Tuesday and Thursday.
Check out photos from Thursday's snow here:
