Winter storm ices Ill. roads, closes schools

A fast-moving winter storm delivered Illinois its coldest day of the season on Monday and coated roads in a thin sheet of ice that made for dangerous driving.

And forecasters say that up to 6 inches of snow is expected over the northern two-thirds of Illinois on Tuesday from a second round of winter weather.

Police reported dozens of weather-related accidents across the state Monday, including a wreck on Illinois 164 near Galesburg that killed a man.

Temperatures struggled to climb out of the single digits across most of Illinois, but stiff, steady winds held wind chills at or near zero across much of the state, according to the National Weather Service.

"Right now it looks like it's about 14 degrees," cashier Mike Kanise said at midday Monday as he checked a weather station at Hannel's Amaco truck stop in Jacksonville, Ill. "Feels like it's minus 1."

The nearby Interstate 72 had patches of snow and ice, he said, but customers told him the driving wasn't too bad.

Roads were far worse to the north.

State Police said details were not available on the fatal accident near Galesburg, but Warren County authorities who were also at the scene said it was almost certainly weather related. Interstates and other highways in the area wore a solid coat of ice.

"We're having a lot of problems getting around," State Police dispatcher Jason Wilson said. "Nobody can go anywhere."

Another accident, in Des Plaines, sent six people to area hospitals. Fire chief Randy Jaeger said slick roads were a factor in the late-morning crash in suburban Chicago.

The weather system responsible for turning Sunday night rain into a layer of ice a tenth of an inch thick or more also topped that with up to an inch of snow, National Weather Service meteorologist, Stephen Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said a strong cold was responsible, bringing a swift end to an unseasonably warm Sunday.

"There were some locations across the central U.S. that went from 50 to the teens," he said. "It was a sharp, strong cold front that moved through."

School districts scattered across the state canceled classes Monday, but others merely limited the bus service available. Both Champaign and Urbana school districts called off rural bus pickups, citing slick roads.

While ice and snow were a ground-transportation headache, the Chicago Department of Aviation said that there were no weather-related delays at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport or Midway International Airport.

The weather service's forecast for today calls for anywhere from an inch to 6 inches of snow to fall over most of the state. The heavier totals are expected farther north, with up to 4 inches possible in central Illinois.

The far northwestern corner of the state could see more than 6 inches of snow. Snow and sleet are possible in southern Illinois, too, though not much is expected to accumulate.

Temperatures should be warmer, with highs ranging from the low 20s in northern Illinois to the low 30s in the south.