Chicago weather: Winter storm set to bring 6-plus inches of heavy snow

A winter storm set to hit the Chicago area Friday morning is expected to dump several inches of snow on the city and suburbs.

A Winter Storm Watch issued by the National Weather Service will be in effect from 6 a.m. Friday through 12 p.m. Saturday as the area braces for what should be a more intense storm than the one that hit earlier this week.

Weather forecasts as of Thursday morning say the storm will arrive early Friday with a mix of rain and snow. The precipitation will turn to all snow by 3 p.m. and could be heavy at times, complicating afternoon commutes for those trying to get home for the weekend.

The heaviest snowfall is expected to end sometime Saturday. By the end of the storm, total accumulation is expected to be 6 to 12 inches for the Chicago area, according to NWS.

Anyone hoping for a speedy melting of the snow will be disappointed. A “big ol’ ball of cold air” is heading Chicago’s way right afterwards and is expected to send temperatures plummeting into the single digits.

On Sunday, the high will be around 5 degrees, with the low expected to be around minus-10. It will be equally as cold on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is forecasted to be partly sunny with a high around 3 degrees. The cold spell is expected to last until mid-week.

The second storm of the week

The storm expected to hit Friday comes a few days after the area’s first impactful winter storm of the season. The suburbs saw much of the brunt of that storm, however, with more limited impacts in Chicago, where most areas saw only a couple inches of snow that have mostly melted away by now.

Airports will likely see delays and cancellations this weekend. On Tuesday, O’Hare International Airport put a full ground stop in place that led to 199 cancelled flights. There were 42 flights cancelled at Midway International Airport.