As a blizzard moved Tuesday into Illinois, commuters, corporate executives and government officials braced for a storm of proportions that haven't been seen in decades - one that could dump as much as 2 feet of snow and whip up 25-foot waves along Lake Michigan before moving on.
Chicago Public Schools, the nation's thirdlargest school district, canceled classes for Wednesday in the face of the storm. It is the first time CPS has closed schools for weather since 1999.
Schools up and down the state closed, airlines canceled flights by the hundreds and road crews scurried to equip garbage trucks with snow plows to join an armada of snowremoval vehicles already salting the streets. In some places, snowmobiles were being delivered to firefighters to help them respond to emergencies, including 50 in Chicago.
Officials pleaded with people to stay home and not drive anywhere unless absolutely necessary. Workers heading to their jobs in downtown Chicago said their bosses already had ordered them to leave early to make it home before the brunt of the storm, which was expected to hit later in the day. Many said they expected their offices to be closed on Wednesday.
"Every Chicago resident should brace for a storm that will be remembered for a long time," said Jose Santiago, executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
Such ominous warnings were accompanied by other signals that the storm bearing down on the state was huge, and possibly historic. More than 1,100 flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport were canceled, along with 100 more at Midway International Airport. And Gov. Pat Quinn activated more than 500 Illinois National Guard troops, who will be stationed at rest areas along highways.
"Everybody's taking this one seriously," said Dave Barber, the public works director in Peoria. AU public employees except emergency personnel were told lo stay home Wednesday and dozens of businesses and schools shut down.
With the accompanying high winds, officials were contemplating steps they haven't taken in years - starting with closing down Chicago's busy and iconic Lake Shore Drive because of the prospect of 25-foot waves caused by 60 mph winds washing over it from nearby Lake Michigan.
"We're prepared as best we can for anything that can happen along Lake Shore Drive, which is a main artery for us," said Thomas Byrne, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation. "We're in constant contact with police to get it shut down, if need be."
in Bloomington-Normal, State Farm Insurance shut down its headquarters and sent 15,000 employees home Tuesday afternoon. It was expected to remain closed on Wednesday.
At the Naval Station Great Lakes, workers were being advised that on Wednesday they may tell everyone but the most essential workers to stay home - something that hasn't happened in a dozen years, said base spokesman John Sheppard.
In Chicago, everything from Cook County health clinics to the federal courthouse to the Shedd Aquarium were sending notices that they will be closed Wednesday, with some closing early Tuesday.
Meanwhile, some of the state's major colleges, including Eastern Illinois University and Bradley University told students there would be no classes Wednesday. Northwestern University told its students that evening classes were canceled Tuesday night and holding out the possibility that classes would be canceled Wednesday. The University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign canceled classes that began after 5 pm on Tuesday.
The seriousness of what the state was facing was underscored in advisories from the National Weather Service, which seemed to eschew its typically bland language with a warning of "blizzard conditions" that will make traveling "treacherous" as "winds increase, resulting in white out conditions."
And while the weather service warned that snow was expected to fall - 1 -3 inches an hour in many areas - it also said that in some spots there could be "snow-producing thunderstorms" that could drive the snowfall rate up to 4 inches per hour. And that, the weather service said, makes "travel nearly impossible."
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