Snowfall slows after 1-3 inches drop, temperatures rising in Chicago area

Temperatures were rising above freezing Thursday afternoon after 1 to 3 inches of snow fell in the Chicago area, making things dicey for motorists.

“Accumulations are slowing down across much of the Chicago metro now as the snowfall lightens up and temperatures warm to above freezing,” the National Weather Service posted on X.

“Reports from around the metro area have largely been in the 1-3″ range,” the post read. “Continue to exercise caution on the road while it’s still snowing!”

Rain was expected next, the weather service said, adding that motorists should still expect to encounter reduced visibility and slushy roads causing slippery travel.

Air travel was also impacted.

Since the start of the storm, 55 cancellations and 736 flight delays were reported at O’Hare Airport, with an average delay of 36 minutes. Midway Airport had 22 cancellations and 145 flight delays, with an average delay time of 24 minutes.

Snow began to fall in the northern suburbs around 8 a.m. before reaching the city and western and southern suburbs, about 9 a.m., Gino Izzi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said earlier.

A trace of snow fell Wednesday evening, but it wasn’t measurable, according to the weather service.

A winter weather advisory was put in place at 7 a.m., and a wind advisory went into effect at 10 a.m. for the city and surrounding suburbs. Two to four inches of snow are possible, and wind gusts could reach as high as 50 mph, according to the weather service.

“It’s just going to be a really intense batch of snow moving south, snowing probably at the rate of an inch an hour at times, with 30 to 40 mile-an-hour winds and pretty awful conditions,” Izzi said earlier.

Lots of Chicagoans got outside to enjoy the snow, while others had mixed feelings about it.

In Albany Park, Oscar Hernandez shoveled in front of a Cash America pawn shop where he is the store manager.

Hernandez woke up to a different kind of flurry Thursday morning — jokes from friends that nature had gifted him snow for his birthday.

“This is a gift,” Hernandez, freshly 33 years old, said. “Last year we didn’t get a lot, so I’m grateful for it.”

A lifelong Chicagoan originally from Rogers Park, Hernandez said he was disappointed last year when there wasn’t as much snow as the city is used to.

While winter isn’t his favorite season — second to fall, because he likes wearing sweaters — he said dealing with snow, and by extension shoveling it and salting sidewalks, was just part of being a Chicagoan.

“It’s part of tradition and part of our culture,” Hernandez said. “I’m not one to get down if there’s no snow. It is what it is. … [But] we can’t have a Chicago winter without snow.”

Samuel Bolian, a 29-year Rogers Park resident, said there are lots of life lessons to be learned in the city’s first snow.

Bolian said it had been misting when he went into work at 1 a.m., but by the time he was leaving Glenview around 7:30 a.m., snow had already accumulated on his and his co-workers’ cars.

After brushing off his car, he did his “good deed of the day,” and left the brush with a co-worker who didn’t have one.

It was a reminder to be kinder to those around you, even if they’re strangers.

“I’ve been through some really difficult times, and there have been some people who showed up who didn’t have to,” Bolian said. “Some didn’t even know me, and others knew the worst of me but still offered a helping hand.”

Bolian then slowly drove to Albany Park in order to avoid sliding in the slushy streets while running errands.

This, according to him, was yet another lesson.

“Driving is difficult, but those of us who are wise, we slow down,” he said. “And I think that’s what we should do in life. … Just enjoy the journey.”

As for the snow itself?

“When it doesn’t happen, I miss it,“ Bolian said.

“But when it’s here, I kind of dread it,” he added while laughing.

In Evanston, residents were bundled up as the snow fell, many shielding themselves with either jacket hoodies or even umbrellas.

For Analie Papageorge, the first snowfall isn’t something she looks forward to.

“I liked Sunday, when it was 60 degrees,” she laughed.

Papageorge was shoveling the snow outside the hair salon she owns, something she wasn’t happy about. She said she’ll enjoy the winter weather more from home later, but not while she’s outside.

Papageorge added she’s not prepared for the rest of the season just yet.

“I’m not ready,” she said, “but then you get ready. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

Down the street from Papageorge’s salon in a downtown Evanston plaza covered with snow, spirits were higher with Param Hemani and Dhinal Thakker.

That’s because for both of them it wasn’t just the first snowfall of the season, it was their first ever.

“We were tracking the weather app very closely,” Hemani said, detailing the anticipation leading up to Thursday.

Hemani and Thakker are originally from India and are graduate students at Northwestern University. Both were outside with a third friend making snowballs and taking photos as the snow fell on them.

But even though this is the first season they’ll experience snow, both aren’t sure their excitement will continue in their first Chicago-area winter.

“Too soon to tell,” Thakker said.