Chicago Snow Makes For Messy Friday Commute, Finally Puts City Plows To Work

Updated story

Chicago awoke Friday to a dusting of light snow that, although less than an inch of snow was ultimately expected to fall, made a giant mess out of roadways in the area.

According to ABC Chicago, an eight-car crash on the Kennedy Expressway near Armitage closed all inbound lanes at one point. Travel times on most expressways Friday morning, according to CBS Chicago, were about four times their typical rush hour rate.

Twelve crashes were reported in the area as of 7 a.m., according to NBC Chicago.

The city sent out about 200 plows to tackle the snow and their progress can be tracked via the city's strangely hypnotic Plow Tracker.

By late Friday morning, 1.1 inches had fallen at O'Hare International Airport, finally ending Chicago's historic streak of days without at least one inch of snowfall. As of Thursday, the city's "snow drought" had gone on for 335 days.

National Weather Service meteorologist Ben Deubelbeiss had earlier told the Chicago Tribune that Friday's snowfall would "probably be closer to half an inch."

Tom Skilling, too, earlier had predicted that the Alberta Clipper responsible for Friday's snowfall hit the city in a weakening form and would only produce a "paltry" amount of the white stuff. Meanwhile, Skilling forecasts, the city remains in the midst of its coldest period of weather in two years -- but will see a warmup early next week.