LET IT SNOW First wintry storm of the season blankets parts of Midwest

Posted on 11/23/2015

The first significant wintry storm of the season blanketed parts of the Midwest with a foot of snow and more was on the way Saturday, creating hazardous conditions as some travellers prepared to depart for the Thanksgiving holiday.

While winter has not officially begun, the shovels and snow blowers were out from South Dakota through southern Minnesota, Iowa and southern Wisconsin to northern Illinois and Indiana. The National Weather Service said the snow would continue in Illinois and Indiana on Saturday and move into Michigan. The front will head northeast to Canada late on Saturday and into Sunday. On Monday morning Air Canada was showing potential delays due to snow in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg and a possibility of delays in Toronto due to high winds. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, one of the busiest in the world, had recorded 4 inches of snow by early Saturday with more falling. Roads were slushy as freezing rain turned to snow in the Chicago area, which was forecast to get between six and 10 inches. Marengo, about 65 miles northwest of Chicago, recorded 12 inches of snow, according to weather service meteorologist Bruce Sullivan.

The Illinois Tollway, which maintains interstate tollways in 11 counties of the state, said it had 185 snowplows ready to go and 84,000 tons of salt stockpiled for the winter. Southeastern South Dakota got up to 18 inches of snow on Friday. Tractor-trailers pulled off slow-moving interstates in South Dakota on Friday to park for the day, said Bret Brown, a cashier at Roadway Express truck stop in Sioux Falls. In Iowa, Des Moines had recorded 6 inches by late Friday and amounts of a foot or more were common in northern Iowa. The highest snowfall in the state was 17 inches recorded in the far northwestern corner, the weather service said.

The Iowa Department of Transportation warned people in Des Moines and several other cities not to travel because of the hazardous conditions.