Spring is finally here! But don’t try flying out of Chicago’s O’Hare airport anytime soon as a snowstorm forced the cancellation of about 150 flights Monday.
Accuweather predicts a “narrow sea of 3 to 6 inches [of snow] will be from northeastern Illinois to northwestern Indiana” including in the Chicago area. In anticipation of snowstorm warnings some 212 flights in the region have been canceled — most of the them at O’Hare, according to FlightAware.
“As the snow continues to streak southeastward into the Ohio Valley states during Monday afternoon, it will begin to struggle to accumulate on roads,” said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
The Weather Channel reports that O’Hare Airport could get 2.5 inches of snow on Monday. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the National Weather Service is warning that warming temperatures are going to turn the snow into sleet, potentially making conditions more hazardous for airplanes.
On top of that, Chicago Midway Airport has canceled about 20 flights and about 10 percent of the flights at the airport were running late. The city of Chicago itself is preparing for the snow by dispatching more than 280 pieces of snow plow and salt-spreading equipment to make sure the roads stay safe.
The first official day of spring was March 20th, and let me tell you it was a welcome relief to the millions of Americans who suffered through heavy snowfall and frigid temperatures this winter — including this reporter.
But even though the snow is ebbing away in many parts of the eastern U.S., the huge amounts of Spring melt mean parts of the country are on flood alert. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that “rivers in western New York and eastern New England have the greatest risk of spring flooding in part because of heavy snowpack coupled with possible spring rain.”
“There is a 50 percent chance of exceeding moderate flood levels in small streams and rivers in the lower Missouri River basin in Missouri and eastern Kansas which typically experience minor to moderate flooding during the spring,” NOAA adds. “This flood potential will be driven by rain and thunderstorms.”
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