Snow pounds north suburbs, O’Hare set breaks snow record

(CHICAGO) Chicago’s north and northwest suburbs got pounded by the season’s first snowfall, with Grayslake recording 17 inches as of Saturday afternoon.

In Mundelein, 16.9 inches were reported. In Elk Grove, 11.6 inches of snow had fallen by 1 p.m. Boone County’s Capron was hit with 18.5 inches of snowfall, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Charles Mott.

In Chicago, O’Hare International Airport is expected to break a record for snowfall on this date. As of noon, O’Hare saw 11.2 inches of snowfall on Saturday. The record snowfall for O’Hare was set at 3 inches in 1893.

The airport also broke snowfall totals on Friday with 4.2 inches. The record was set in 1996 with 2.8 inches.

Although downtown Chicago and most of Chicago’s neighborhoods were spared heavy overnight and early morning snow, flakes began to fall about 12:30 p.m. Because the precipitation ranged from rain to snow, not much stuck to the ground.

Chicago’s first snowstorm, which Mott called a bit early for the season, caused plenty of flight cancellations at the city’s airports.

At O’Hare International Airport, 580 flights had been canceled due to weather as of 4:45 p.m. Flights in and out of the Northwest Side airport were reporting delays of an hour or more, according to the city’s Department of Aviation.

At Midway International Airport, 195 flights had been canceled and flights were reporting delays of up to half an hour as of Saturday evening, the department said. 5.8 inches

Chicago isn’t expected to get more snow on Saturday and won’t even see a chance of the white stuff until the day after Thanksgiving, Mott said.

Saturday night will become brisk, dropping down to just 14 degrees. On Sunday, the high will just reach 28 degrees.

Don’t expect snow on Thanksgiving. Mott says rain will begin on Wednesday and continue at least through Friday.