CHICAGO Weather Forecast: A powerful winter storm slammed the Midwest and Great Lakes region over the Thanksgiving weekend, blanketing interstates with more than a foot of heavy snow, triggering massive flight delays, and stranding thousands of returning holiday travelers.
The storm hit hardest from Saturday into early Sunday, with Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Minneapolis bearing the brunt of the snowfall. More than 14 inches fell in parts of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, while lake-effect snow pushed totals above 18 inches along Michigan’s western shoreline.
Major highways turned into parking lots. Multi-vehicle crashes closed long stretches of I-80, I-90, and I-94, with some motorists trapped in their cars for hours. The Illinois State Police reported hundreds of slide-offs and at least a dozen injury crashes in the Chicago metro area alone.
Air travel took an equally severe hit. Chicago O’Hare International Airport recorded more than 1,200 delays and nearly 600 cancellations on Saturday, the peak of the storm. Delays cascaded to Detroit Metropolitan, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Cleveland Hopkins airports, leaving passengers sleeping on terminal floors and scrambling for hotel rooms.
“This was one of the worst post-Thanksgiving travel messes we’ve seen in years,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Donofrio in Romeoville, Illinois. “The combination of heavy, wet snow and strong winds created whiteout conditions that made roads nearly impassable.”
Power outages affected more than 80,000 customers at the storm’s peak, primarily in Wisconsin and Michigan. Several school districts in the region have already canceled classes for Monday.
Crews continue to clear roads and restore power Sunday evening, but forecasters warn the Midwest’s break will be brief. A second storm system is expected to track from the central Plains into the Northeast starting Tuesday night, potentially bringing 6 to 12 inches of snow from western Pennsylvania and upstate New York through the central Appalachians by Thursday morning.
The National Weather Service has posted winter storm watches for parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, with the potential for significant icing along the southern edge of the system.
Travel officials urge anyone planning trips this week to monitor forecasts closely, allow extra time, and carry emergency supplies in vehicles. “Winter is making its presence known early this year,” Donofrio added. “The next few days will be critical for the eastern half of the country.”
