CHICAGO — After a mild few weeks, Chicagoans are gearing up for the first substantial snow of the season — and the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation says it's ready.
The snow will start at 10 or 11 p.m. Friday and last throughout the day Saturday, though it will start slowing down around 3 p.m., said John Gresiak, a meteorologist for AccuWeather. He said there will be a "pretty potent storm," but snowfall will vary widely throughout the city.
More then 200 snow plows and 350,000 tons of salt are on hand to help clear the streets,Department of Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Charles L. Williams said Thursday at a press conference in West Town, standing in front of a large salt pile.
The city doesn't expect a salt shortage — despite above-average snow and ice last year, there is still salt left over, which will be used this winter. Williams said his department expects below-average snowfall overall this winter. While total average snowfall is 36 inches, they think there'll be 31-32 inches this year.
City officials said they expect the heaviest snow to fall from 4 to 6 a.m. Saturday, which will luckily not impact commuters.
"The main thoroughfares are our first priority. If those arterial streets aren't opening, nothing can get through," Williams said.
Asked to weigh in on dibs, the practice of holding empty shoveled parking spots with various household objects, Williams said, "We would encourage people not to do that. We encourage neighbors to help neighbors."
The city is once again updating its Chicago Shovels website, where people can see how much ground plows have covered, request shoveling assistance and view winter parking restrictions. The official overnight winter parking ban, however, doesn't kick in until Dec. 1.
Temperatures will fall to the 40s Thursday and Friday, but Gresiak said that's "pretty reasonable for Chicago" in mid-November. As the snow begins on Friday night, those temperatures will drop even further to near-freezing, and they'll stay there Saturday.
For those naysayers who think the first snowstorm of the year couldn't possibly lead to accumulation, Gresiak disagrees.
"It's gonna stick," Gresiak said. "I would say that people need to be ready for some pretty poor travel conditions late Friday night and during the day Saturday."
At the National Weather Service, meteorologists were slightly more upbeat, predicting 2 to 4 inches of snow around Chicago — and as much as 6 inches on the city's Far North Side.
And though Chicagoans may scoff at a mere 3 inches of snow (remember when we got 19 inches during a single blizzard last year?), Gresiak said people should prepare and be safe, especially when driving.
"The ground is warm, not frozen, so some of the roads may not be too bad, but during the periods of heaviest snowfall, even the roads could get snow-covered and slick for a while," Gresiak said. "Right now, it looks like the worst time period is late Friday night through about mid-day, early afternoon on Saturday."
The snow should stop by late Saturday, and Gresiak said he isn't expecting any to fall on Sunday. But, Sunday will see temperatures "well below freezing," he said.
The weather forecast has been getting gloomier (or more exciting, depending on your viewpoint) throughout the week: Meteorologists went from saying snow was "possible," to saying there'd "likely" be just a bit of snow Friday night to Saturday. Now, they're calling for the first significant snowfall of the season.
"It's a little bit unusual. A lot of times we'll see some snow a little earlier in November than this, sometimes even in October," Gresiak said. "It is a little bit unusual, although I don't think it's real out of the ordinary that we've waited this long."
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