Serious ice accumulations, not unlike those which cut power to 410,000 Plains residents and snapped tree limbs across sections of 12 states Sunday and Monday, threaten sections of the Chicago area Tuesday. The region west and NW of the city—including the Fox Valley, DeKalb, McHenry and Boone counties and areas west toward Rockford and into southern Wisconsin appear at greatest risk for the heaviest ice build-ups. While temps gradually ease above freezing in Chicago and areas south, halting ice formation and the melting which has already occurred, readings may be hard pressed to break above freezing to the west.
Tuesday marks the fourth consecutive day this area has played hot to freezing rain or drizzle. An analysis of Chicago weather records dating back to 1924 by my colleagues Frank Wachowski and Steve Kahn reveals it’s something which hasn’t happened before.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist
