Freak snow event in Northern Illinois

[Brent]

I watched WGN last night and they didn't mention snow accumulations. They said maybe some light icing. LOL

ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-INZ001-002-111800-
BOONE-COOK-DE KALB-DUPAGE-GRUNDY-KANE-KANKAKEE-KENDALL-LA SALLE-LAKE-
LEE-MCHENRY-OGLE-PORTER-WILL-WINNEBAGO-
209 AM CST TUE JAN 11 2005

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY EXTENDED UNTIL NOON...

A MIX OF FREEZING RAIN...SLEET...AND SNOW WILL CONTINUE ACROSS MUCH
OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA. THE AREA OF CONCERN LIES
ROUGHLY NORTH OF THE KANKAKEE AND ILLINOIS RIVERS. THE MIXED
PRECIPITATION WILL CONTINUE TO AROUND NOON WITH ICE ACCUMULATIONS
BETWEEN A TENTH AND TWO TENTHS OF AN INCH EXPECTED SOUTH OF A LINE
FROM DIXON TO DE KALB TO DOWNTOWN CHICAGO. NORTH OF THIS LINE... THE
OVERNIGHT SNOWFALL BETWEEN 2 AND 6 INCHES WILL LIKELY BE CRUSTED WITH
A LIGHTER ICE COATING OF SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN.

[azskyman]

In fact, my sister in Rockford confirmed that the snow had a crust of ice as predicted!

[simplykristi]

That is not uncommon here at all.

Kristi

[Miss Mary]

My husband's sister and family live in Cook County (Barrington). Agree this type of weather isn't that uncommon for them. In fact she says when it snows, it sticks around. Hardly ever melts. School rarely close either.

Completely different story down here in Cincinnati. You mention the word snow and instantly a dozen schools close (usually rural are the first to announce). People tend to panic down there too. We have many, many hilly neighborhoods. So many that Cincinnati is known for it's famous 7 Hills. Please don't ask me what they are (debate goes on about this). But I can rattle off at least 5. In fact we have one street that is so steep (sharp incline/drop), when it closes, you know roads are icy here. News crews are quick to announce that street closing, hoping people then realize how bad it is.

But you have none of this up in Chicago I'm told. People take snowfall and icy road conditions in stride (of course it is mainly flat up there too)!

Mary

[azskyman]

I agree Mary. People react differently to changing weather depending where you live. Our roudy thunderstorms last evening stirred all kinds of bulletins and warnings, yet the same kind of storm in Illinois would be considered "garden variety" back there.

What was unique about the forecast that Brent was referring to was that I don't ever recall wording that actually mentioned that a "crust" would form on the top of new fallen snow.

[ChiTownMC]

That snow up north was more of a surpise snow event. They predicted about 1 inch of snow, but they had the bands set up right, and they had 4-6 inches.