Record-breaking snow cover, chilling temperatures greet Chicagoans Sunday

Snow has since ended, there, but has now spread into the Great Lakes, with a few totals over 10 inches already coming in from parts of Wisconsin and northern IL.

Wintry weather finally made an appearance across the Midwest on Saturday, with snow canceling hundreds of flights in Chicago and causing travel delays in several states.

Flight-tracking website FlightAware.com showed more 300 flights in and out of O’Hare worldwide Airport had been canceled as of Saturday evening. Midway global Airport had canceled about 150 flights. A few flights have been delayed for about an hour or diverted to other cities.

The northern IN city of LaPorte is no stranger to heavy snowfalls, though only about four inches were on the ground by noon Saturday. Alizha Demunck, a clerk at the city’s Little Chocolates candy store, says the weather didn’t slow weekend shoppers from getting handmade chocolates.

“Northern IN, we’re used to snow”. The National Weather Service said the snow would continue in IL and in on Saturday and move into MI.

Looking to the east, about 5 inches of snow had fallen on Kalamazoo in southern MI by Saturday morning, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Nathan Jeruzal. Grand Rapids had about 3 inches.

Southern South Dakota saw significant snowfall and poor traveling conditions Friday morning, with a foot or more of snow expected.

The weather service also issued a winter storm watch for northern IN, saying snow accumulations of 4 to 7 inches are possible. The front will head northeast to Canada late on Saturday and into Sunday. Meteorologist Kevin Skow says the heaviest snow ban is expected to fall from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, down to Dubuque. The O’Hare storm total of 11.2 inches fell just short of Chicago’s record 12-inch November storm in 1895.