CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A major winter storm is expected to hit the Chicago area from late Thursday night into Friday, and it could bring up to six inches of snow.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch for parts of central, east central, north central and northeast Illinois, as well as northwest Indiana for potential blizzard conditions at that time.
"We'll see winds gusting to near 50 mph," said AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Thompson. "That'll cause poor visibility with blowing snow. It’s going to blow snow back over roads that have already been covered, so that's going to make travel very difficult at times."
The snow storm will likely have a big impact on what’s already a busy time for holiday travel, and not just locally.Thompson said the storm will fan out across a good portion of the country.
"Even though a lot of the east coast is going to be seeing rain with this storm, the strong winds are going to encompass a lot of areas, and certainly for air travel that's going to cause a lot of problems not just Thursday, but especially into Friday and perhaps into Saturday."
His advice? The earlier in the week you or your loved ones can travel, the better.
"Through Wednesday, the weather is going to be fairly benign across the area," said Thompson. "It's late in the week we're going to have some trouble."
In anticipation of the winter storm, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and American Airlines are waiving fees for anyone who needs to rebook a flight this week.
Southwest announced that customers flying through O’Hare or Midway Airports should expect disrupted service, meaning flights could be delayed, diverted, or canceled. For those rebooking a flight, the rebooked date must be within 14 days of the original departure date.
United customers may have their change fee waived, as long as: They purchased the ticket before Dec. 17, were originally traveling between Dec. 21 – 23, and would like to rebook their flight to travel between Dec. 18 – 30.
American Airlines customers may only have their change fee waived if they: purchased their ticket by Dec. 19, were scheduled to travel between Dec. 21 – 23, and would like to rebook for a flight between Dec. 19 – 30.
Travelers are advised to keep an eye on any potential changes and to confirm their flight’s status ahead of time.
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