Northern suburbs hit with heavy snowfall

A snowstorm predicted for Thursday afternoon and evening may not have materialized when expected, but it eventually showed up, and it sure packed a punch in northern Lake and McHenry counties.

The first wave of the suburban storm materialized farther north than expected, dumping about an inch of slush on the ground late Thursday. Then, after a lull of about two hours, towns far north and northwest of Chicago picked up between 6 and 9 inches of thick snow overnight, meteorologists said.

Snow totals coming in to the National Weather Service reporting station and the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network show that Lake and McHenry counties were hammered.

Mundelein recorded 8.2 inches of snowfall, while Lake Zurich and Cary both recorded 8 inches of snow.

In comparison, recording stations in Cook County recorded between 2 inches of snow in Oak Park, to more than 5 inches in Palatine. Most DuPage stations snowed less than 3 inches.

For snow totals for your area, check out the Community Collaborative website.

The winter weather advisory issued by the National Weather Service was extended, but ended at noon Friday.

Several schools in northern Lake County announced they were closed Friday including Big Hollow School District 38 and Gavin School District 37 in Ingleside, Fox Lake Elementary School District 114 and Round Lake Area School District 116. Grant High School in Fox Lake opened at 10 a.m.

For school closings, check out the Emergency Closing Center.

Severe weather conditions caused more than 200 flights to be canceled at O'Hare International Airport with delays averaging about 45 minutes, officials from the Chicago Department of Aviation said Friday morning. Those totals are in addition to the 300 flights canceled Thursday night, officials said.

Midway was experiencing 45-minute delays this morning, with about 40 canceled flights, officials said.

No delays were reported on Metra this morning because of the weather.

ComEd officials said about 3,500 customers were without power in the northern Lake County region because of the weather. Spokesman Bennie Currie said the scattered outages mostly affect the Palatine/Barrington/Lake Zurich area.

Travel times this morning were longer on all highways because of the snow. Accidents and spinouts were reported throughout Lake, DuPage, Kane, Cook and McHenry counties. Specifically, accidents were reported on Route 12 in Fox Lake, Route 137 in Libertyville, and County Farm Road in Wheaton.

So far, about 16 inches of snow have been recorded in the Chicago area this winter, meteorologists said, when normal snow totals are in the 40-inch range.