Truck plowing snow off the road at night.
December 21, 2022 – A powerful holiday-week winter storm will unfold across the country Thursday, unleashing snow and strong winds on Illinois.
The timing of the storm could not be worse, as millions rush to finish their shopping and embark on their holiday travels.
The storm system packs a punch with heavy snow, high winds, then dangerous wind chills. Meteorologist Ed Shimon with the National Weather Service office in Lincoln said the high winds are especially concerning.
“The biggest impact is probably going to be the strong winds that are going to follow right at the end of when the snowfall is really occurring, because that is going to create near-blizzard conditions in some places,” said Shimon.
Snow totals vary from a couple inches in southern Illinois to close to a foot in the Chicago area. Macon County is under a Winter Storm Watch from Thursday Morning through late Friday night with gusting winds up to 45 mph and total snow accumulation around two to four inches.
Maria Castaneda with the Illinois Department of Transportation said blowing and drifting will create challenges for their fleet of snow plows.
“If there are areas where there aren’t high winds, we will definitely get out and pre-salt and then change over to what’s called the plowing operation as that progresses,” said Castaneda.
The Illinois Department of Transportation is reminding the public to visit and bookmark GettingAroundIllinois.com for continually updated information on road conditions.
“Our No. 1 priority is making sure roads are safe for the motoring public, but you should always prepare yourself before taking any trips,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman in a statement.
