Weekend winter weather blankets DeKalb County in snow, slippery roads

DeKALB – Several consecutive nights of snowfall settled throughout DeKalb County over the weekend, resulting in slippery roads and some winter weather related crashes, said local law enforcement officials Monday.

According to the National Weather Service, cities and towns throughout the county reported several inches of snow. On Saturday into Sunday, snowfall exceeded three inches in many areas, including DeKalb. And on Sunday night into early Monday morning, Genoa recorded 1.5 inches, with DeKalb recorded about the same, and just over an inch of snow in Cortland.

“Those reports came into us early this morning, roughly around 7 a.m., so some additional snow likely fell on top of that,” said Romeoville-headquartered National Weather Service meteorologist Rafal Ogorek.

“Those aren’t the final totals, they are volunteer observers that report these totals to us,” Rafal said. “We won’t know what the true final totals are until tomorrow morning.”

With the snow, colder temperatures are expected across much of northern Illinois this week, with wind chills expected to fall below zero overnight. The National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather outlook for much of northern Illinois on Monday, predicting light snow followed by sub-zero temperatures settling in after. Wind chills could get up to 20 below zero into Tuesday morning.

Wind chills of 15 below to 25 below zero are also possible Wednesday morning. Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to record highs of 7 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. A warmer front is forecasted for Thursday, which expects a high of 20 and a 20% chance of more snow between noon and midnight.

[ Sub-zero temperatures expected to follow snowfall to start the week, forecasters say ]

The winter storm made for slick road conditions for the Monday commute, as DeKalb County sheriff’s officials responded to a number of calls for crashes or cars stranded in the snow.

DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan said Monday afternoon sheriff’s deputies responded to seven vehicles stuck in a ditch and five traffic accidents since Saturday. He said the small numbers were likely the result of drivers staying home.

“Due to the fact the snow came over the weekend, there were less vehicles on the road,” Sullivan said.

City of DeKalb’s Andy Raih, public works director for streets and facilities, said city snow plows reported no major breakdowns over the weekend.

“Light fluffy snow is a whole lot easier to move than wet and heavy snow,” Raih said.

He said public works crews were able to go about their duties without incident.

“Nine times out of 10 when I am called, I am probably going to have a hiccup we hit, but these last couple ones have went better than most of the time,” Raih said. “Overall, it was pretty smooth operation that we were happy with.”