Tuesday Storm Packs a Wallop in St. Charles

Accumulations of up to 7 inches of snowfall were possible Tuesday, but how much the final tally will be is difficult to gauge. Still, the white, slushy mess, complicated by gusty winds slowed down motorists, snarled traffic and caused some accidents in St. Charles, police said.

By late Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service extended its winter weather advisory until 6 a.m. Wednesday, but by 9 p.m. canceled it altogether. Accuweather, which dubbed the snowfall “the last storm of the month,” predicted an additional 1 to 3 inches of snowfall by Wednesday.

St. Charles Police Department spokesman Paul McCurtain said police had been kept busy during Tuesday afternoon’s storm, logging seven traffic accidents and two motorist assists, as well as one snow mobile complaint by late afternoon.

The St. Charles Plan Commission meeting scheduled Tuesday evening was canceled due to the weather. The commission had been scheduled to continue its review of the 2013 draft Comprehensive Plan, among other agenda items.

The storm climaxed in the afternoon, prompting St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 to cancel all after-school activities, except for the Baker Station, South Elgin Park District and West Chicago Park District after-school child-care programs.

The district also let students out 30 minutes early at St. Charles North and St. Charles East high schools to ensure buses would be on time for the dismissal of the district's elementary and middle schools, which let out at their normal times, according to a statement the district posted on its website.

The National Weather Service said the wet, heavy snow would continue overnight, but expected its intensity to slow late in the evening. Still, minoraccumulations were expected to continue overnight, with final tallies of 4 to 7 inches by late evening.

Reuters reported, in an article picked up by the Chicago Tribune, that the powerful storm blanketed the Great Plains, leaving at least three dead in its wake before moving into the Chicago region on Tuesday. The storm also forced 500 flight cancellations at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports, where flights that were not canceled were delayed by as much as an hour.

Meantime, residents of Kansas, Oklahoma and Kansas were digging out after the same storm hit them on Monday. Two people were killed in separate weather-related accidents in Kansas, and in Oklahoma, one person died in home where the roof partially collapses, according to the Reuters report.

Related:

• Update: Tri-Cities to See 4 to 7 Inches by Midnight

• St. Charles Plan Commission Meeting Snowed Out

• St. Charles School District 303 Cancels After-School Activities

Tips from Accuweather:

• Safe Snow Driving

• Clear Snow Safely With These Eight Tips

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