Winds high, snow low as Will County endures frigid storm

Day two of the storm that slowed down holiday bustle days ahead of Christmas also brought assorted traffic incidents and other problems Friday.

Temperatures stayed below zero degrees, and wind gusts were as high as 55 mph. But the snowfall was much lighter than expected.

On Thursday night, 20 houses in Rockdale lost power in what may have been the only local outage from a storm that threatened to create a combination of conditions ripe for widespread power outages shutting down furnaces during an arctic cold spell.

A relatively light snowfall was below forecasts of up to a foot, easing the effects of drifting from high winds that ranged between 45 mpg and 55 mph Friday.

The National Weather Service station in Romeoville recorded 2.5 inches of snow by mid-afternoon Friday.

“Most of it fell yesterday afternoon and evening,” meteorologist Brett Borchardt said, adding that the appearance of snowfall Friday was because of the effect of high winds.

“It’s a lot of blowing snow,” Borchardt said. “It’s not snow falling from clouds.”

Wind gusts Friday reached 55 mph but were expected to ebb by Saturday.

“This is the worst of it right now,” Borchardt said mid-afternoon. “But it’s still going to be blustery with gusts of 25 to 35 mph.”

The thermometer will climb with forecasted highs at 8 degrees Saturday and 11 degrees Sunday, when Christmas Day arrives.

It won’t stop there. The forecast calls for rising temperatures reaching almost 40 degrees Wednesday and hitting the high 40s Thursday.

On Friday, however, the reality of the winter storm kept snowplow crews on the road long after they had cleared away the snow that fell the day before.

Will County Director of Transportation Jeff Ronaldson said the county planned to keep plows on the county’s rural roads at least until 4 p.m. to push back snow that was blowing back onto roads.

Ronaldson said the plows kept roads open the night before, although driving conditions were not good.

“All the roads were passable but not recommended,” he said.

The Will County Sheriff’s Office reported three crashes Thursday night. One was in Homer Glen, another was near Wilmington, and a third was near the Indiana border on State Line Road. None were major.

A two-vehicle crash in Green Garden Township on Route 45 near Manhattan-Monee Road at about 5:43 a.m. tied up traffic in that area until about 7:35 a.m., state police said.

About 9:35 a.m., a semitrailer lost control on Interstate 55 near the Kankakee River bridge and hit two vehicles in a collision that led to lanes being shut down until about 1 p.m.

As of Friday afternoon, Joliet police reported 15 weather-related traffic incidents since 11 p.m. Thursday, but none of them involved injuries.

The winter storm also had an effect on nature lovers who may have wanted to venture into the woods to experience the freezing cold and arctic wind blasts.

The Forest Preserve District of Will County closed down forest preserves Thursday and kept them closed Friday to clear away snow, according to an announcement from the district.