Snow flies about as bitter winds belt the city

The powerful winds sweeping the area as Tuesday dawns have sent some of 2 to 5 inches of
fluffy overnight snow airborne. Blowing and drifting snow is to cut into visibilities
through mid-morning -- especially in open areas where occasional white-out conditions
threaten. But it's the arctic chill these winds deliver which is to become Tuesday's major
weather story while igniting lake-effect snows in sections of the Indiana snowbelt. The
chill is the first and least formidable of this week's two arctic blasts. The intense cold
that follows Wednesday night and Thursday appears especially brutal and may produce
calendar day highs that fail to break above zero for the first time since 1996. Snow with a
more intense Alberta Clipper enhanced by lake moisture Tuesday night and Wednesday
threatens another significant snowfall.
FULL SEASON OF SNOW HAS ALREADY FALLEN -- 60 PERCENT OF SNOW HERE TYPICALLY FALLS AFTER JAN.13
Though it is not even mid-January, the city has already surpassed the 124 year long-term
seasonal snow average of 36.6 inches with 37.9 inches on the books. Typically 60 percent
of the season's snow is yet to fall, so the city could be looking at its second straight
60 inch-plus snow season.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune