Big John and Ramblin’ Ray recap today’s show with ‘What did we learn today?’ a segment where they comment on what they’ve learned from the show. As well as asking Executive Producer Tony Lossano, Technical Producer Michael Garay, and Associate Producer Kimberly Kaczmarek what they’ve learned.
(CHICAGO) More than 500 flights have been canceled as Chicago prepares for up to 4 inches of snow by Monday afternoon.
As of 6 a.m. Monday, 411 flights were canceled at O’Hare International Airport and 98 flights had been canceled at Midway International Airport, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. Delays at O’Hare were averaging about 31 minutes, while delays at Midway were less than 15 minutes.
Snow started falling at O’Hare about 9:45 p.m. Sunday, but less than an inch had accumulated by 1 a.m. Monday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Donofrio. By 5:45 a.m., 2 inches of snow had fallen in north suburban Evanston and northwest suburban Woodstock.
A winter weather advisory was in effect until 1 p.m. Monday, with between 2 and 4 inches of snow accumulations expected in Lake, DuPage and Cook counties. Visibility will be reduced during periods of heavy snowfall and could make for difficult driving conditions, the weather service warned.
“The intensity of the snow will vary from time to time until (Monday) morning,” said meteorologist Gino Izzi. “It seems pretty likely we’ll be experiencing snow during rush hour, so I would plan on a longer than usual commute.”
Izzi said this will be the first time Chicago has recorded at least 1 inch of snow since Dec. 17, 2016, marking the city’s longest streak without snow ever recorded during the winter.
Lake effect snow could then develop Monday evening and continue overnight into Tuesday, adding to snowfall accumulations, the weather service said. Lake effect snow, which can produce very heavy snowfall, sometimes in excess of 2 inches per hour, could continue periodically through Tuesday afternoon.
Temperatures were expected to reach a high of about 30 degrees on Monday, the weather service said. The chance of snow was about 100 percent on Monday, with wind gusts as high as 20 mph. A high near 27 degrees was expected Tuesday, with an 80 percent chance of snow.
The city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation deployed 287 snow plows overnight to tackle the snowy weather. The plows focus on salting and plowing arterial routes to ensure the roads are safe before moving to neighborhood streets, if necessary.
While Chicago braced for its first snowfall in months, larger snowstorms were expected on the East Coast. A blizzard watch was issued for the Boston area, with 12 to 18 inches of snow expected to fall over eastern Massachusetts as well as central and southern Rhode Island, according to the weather service.
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By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) While the TSA works to hire more people to help with the long screening lines that have hampered at O’Hare and Midway Airports, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is working on a plan to help shrink lines.
Durbin says he’s arranged for Homeland Security to add 58 screeners and four more teams of bomb-sniffing dogs, but it’s going to take several weeks.
He’s also calling on the airlines to help speed up the lines by suspending baggage fees so that more passengers will check their baggage. He says the airlines can afford it.
“They’re making money and lets be honest about it, taking off on a plane that’s half empty because people are still standing, waiting to go through TSA, isn’t very profitable for an airline,” Durbin said. “It keeps their passengers unhappy and uncertain about future travel plans. So if the airlines will join us and forego a little bit of their profitability for a few months here, we can start to get this system working here.”
So help is on the way, but it’s gonna take a while.
