Chicago Snow: City's Largest Snowfall This Year Snarls Morning Commute

City's Largest Snowfall This Year Snarls Morning Commute
A woman takes a walk with her dog in the snow-covered at Lake Michigan in Chicago, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013. A fast-moving clipper system is expected to move southeast across the Midwest tonight on a track south of Chicago and is expected to deliver a significant snowfall in the 2 to 5 inch range, with the heaviest amounts across the north portions of the Chicago Metro area, mainly north and east of a line from Rockford to Valparaiso. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
A woman takes a walk with her dog in the snow-covered at Lake Michigan in Chicago, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013. A fast-moving clipper system is expected to move southeast across the Midwest tonight on a track south of Chicago and is expected to deliver a significant snowfall in the 2 to 5 inch range, with the heaviest amounts across the north portions of the Chicago Metro area, mainly north and east of a line from Rockford to Valparaiso. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

The snow began to fall Sunday evening in the Chicago area, bringing a modest accumulation of snow by Monday morning that marked the season's biggest snowfall to date and made for treacherous roadways.

Most parts of the Chicago area saw between 2 and 4 inches of snowfall that was expected to end around 10 a.m. Monday, according to the Chicago Tribune.

"[That] makes this one of the larger snow events of this generally quiet winter," National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Friedlein told DNAinfo Chicago.

The snowfall, a product of an Alberta Clipper system, caused at least 25 crashes on Chicago-area expressways as of 7 a.m., the Chicago Sun-Times reports, drastically slowed morning travel times and also delayed flights up to an hour and a half at O'Hare International Airport, according to NBC Chicago.

The storm system prompted the city to deploy 284 snow plows, starting first on the main streets and Lake Shore Drive and moving to side streets later. The city's plow tracker offers a real-time view of the fleet's efforts.

More accumulating snow is expected to fall Tuesday in Chicago, although only up to an inch is expected to fall.

Despite the series of recent snow events, Chicago still has a long way to go if it is to catch up to an average winter's worth of snowfall.

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