CHICAGO _ A winter storm warning has been downgraded to an advisory Saturday evening as a rare late winter storm makes its way across the area.
The winter storm warning that was in effect for Cook, DuPage and Kane counties, was canceled about 5:20 p.m. local time, according to the National Weather Service. It's been replaced with a winter weather advisory, which was to be in effect until 11 p.m.
For the rest of the night, light to moderate, occasionally heavy wet snow was expected to accumulate one to three inches and there will be a "period of ice pellets'' possible, according to the weather service.
Wind gusts will be up to 30 to 35 miles per hour and the snow will cause primarily travel difficulties. Expect snow covered roads and limited visibility.
How much snow will fall? Accumulation will "depend on where you are," said NWS meteorologist Amy Seeley said.
"Really more snow as you go further north," Seeley said.
Snow will end by dawn. As of 6 p.m., the temperature had dropped to around 32 degrees at O'Hare International Airport.
It will be breezy, with gusts as high as 30 mph, and the "chance of precipitation is 100%," the weather service said.
Saturday's Chicago White Sox game at Guaranteed Rate Field was canceled, and both major airports were reporting cancellations and delays.
As of 3:30 p.m., O'Hare International Airport had 589 flight cancellations and Midway Airport had 124, according to the city Department of Aviation. Both airports reported about 15-minute delays in arrivals and departures. Travelers were urged to contact their airline for specific flight information.
Though it's rare, springtime snowfall has occurred even later than April.
"We've had snow in May before,'' according to Seeley, who said 1.1 inches accumulated on May 1, 1940.
Motorists are urged to allow extra time for travel and extra space between vehicles. You should use the same caution you would during any winter storm. "It doesn't matter that this is April," Seeley said.
Nearly 170 snowplows will work throughout the rest of the afternoon and through the night, said Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Guy Tridgell.
The pavement is still warm enough that the snow will mostly accumulate on grassy areas at first, but that will change as the temperature drops.
"It's not so much a salting operation as a plowing operation," Tridgell said.
Motorists should give the plows "plenty of room" to operate, he said. "It's going to be very slushy and very messy."
The roadways will be monitored as it gets colder through the night.
"We're just advising folks that they need to give themselves some extra time in their schedule," Tridgell said. "Slow down, increase their driving distance and put the phone down."
Highways in Cook County were coated with snow as of 12:30 p.m., but motorists have not reported anything serious so far, said Illinois State Police Trooper Kyle Barrett.
"There's not too many accidents with the weather," Barrett said.
CTA, Metra and Amtrak reported no problems Saturday afternoon.
Heavy, wet snow and ice can cause problems with electrical wires, so "out of an abundance of caution," ComEd put extra staffing in place for this weekend because of the storm, company spokesman Paul Elsberg said.
As of midafternoon Saturday, Elsberg said there was nothing "out of the ordinary. We have about 450 customers out of 4 million who are experiencing outages, but in terms of weather so far, there's been no meaningful impact."
Elsberg said the utility is watching the storm carefully and made sure extra staffers are available through Sunday, just in case. "We know there is that heavy, wet snow coming," Elsberg said.
Sunday, it should be sunny and in the 40s along the lake and will reach the mid-50s inland. "It will still be cooler than normal," Seeley said.
