Officials Warn of Hazardous Road Conditions

Clean up is underway with many plows out and trying to keep up with the storm. As of 9:30 a.m., most roadways in far northeast Illinois were mostly covered with ice or snow, according to the IDOT winter weather conditions website. In McHenry County, authorities are reporting hazardous road conditions.

“The blowing snow is causing whiteout conditions and drifting across east/west roadways. Plows are out doing their best to clear the roadways but as long as the wind is blowing the snow back onto the roadways it will be hazardous to travel,” according to an update sent via e-mail by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office at 5:30 a.m. “Remember driving in cities will be different from open county roads.”

Downed power lines were also forcing several road closures Monday morning. In Lake County, the following roads were closed for this reason: Route 60 east of Route 21 in Vernon Hills and Route 41 northbound at Route 60 in Lake Forest.

More information on Lake County road closures and delays can be found on the Lake County PASSAGE website.

In Kane County, the sheriff’s office has closed Route 38 from the west county line in Maple Park to at least Meredith Road.

The road is impassable until Illinois Department of Transportation is able to plow the roadway, according to a post on the Kane County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.

“Please avoid the area until the plows can come through,” authorities said at 9:30 a.m.

If you must travel today, the Illinois Division of Transportation provides a helpful website for checking roadway conditions throughout the state. The IDOT winter weather conditions’ website includes real-time snapshots showing the conditions of specific roadways throughout the area. This can provide a glimpse at what your route may look like, and conditions you may encounter, before you head out.

For those forced to drive today, authorities are encouraging them to leave early, drive slow, be alert about other drivers, have an emergency kit, full tank of gas, charged cell phone, and money to pay for a tow.

Tows for AAA and insurance companies can take up to eight hours to get to you do to their increased call volume, according to the sheriff’s office.

In addition, thousands are without power Monday, according to ComEd.

You can report an outage at ComEd.com/Report and check outage status at ComEd.com/Map.

More via the IDOT winter weather condition website

PHOTO VIA SHUTTERSTOCK