More than 500 flights were canceled at Chicago airports on Monday morning as the city woke up to the first significant snowfall in nearly three months.
By 2 p.m., at least 443 flights were canceled at the O’Hare International Airport, with an additional 125 cancellations reported at the Midway Airport. Delays were less than 15 minutes at both the airports.
Nationwide, more than 1,600 flights had been preemptively canceled on Tuesday as a potentially historic March blizzard takes aim at the Northeast.
Delta, American and the United are all waving rebooking fees for the O’Hare, Mid Atlantic and Northeast airports during the storm days.
Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and also Baltimore are all expecting more than 12 inches or higher snowfall than previous winter storms in the recent months. Washington, D.C., is expected to see 8 to 12 inches of snowfall, potentially a hard hit to the city's cherry blossom blooms.
In Chicago, the Department of Streets and Sanitation deployed nearly 350 snow plows and salt spreaders as the winter snow system began to move through the area on late Sunday night.
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The trucks will salt and plow main streets, bridges, overpasses, and hills first, the city officials said. Once the snow stops and main streets are cleared, the plows will move to the residential streets if needed.
A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for the entire metro Chicago area and parts of the Northwest Indiana until 1 p.m. on Monday. A Winter Weather Advisory means periods of snow will cause the primarily travel difficulties. The National Weather Service urges commuters to be prepared for the snow covered roads and limited visibilities.
A Lake Effect Snow Warning was issued for the Cook, DuPage and Lake counties from 7 p.m. on Monday to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, with the potential for heavy lake effect snow which could produce amounts higher than 6 inches in some areas.
Snow is expected to continue through the morning rush before tapering off to the occasional light snow or flurries on Monday afternoon, with 2 to 4 inches of snow accumulation possible.
Mrudula Duddempudi.
