As light snow flurries taper off Saturday night, “bitterly cold” temperatures are expected to hit Chicago through Tuesday night, with wind chills as low as minus 30 degrees, the National Weather Service predicts.

       Temperatures hovered around 22 degrees at noon at O’Hare International Airport, the city’s collection site, with a low expected Saturday of minus 1 degree.

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       More than 13 inches of snow fell Friday through Saturday morning in areas just east of Rockford along the Illinois-Wisconsin state line, according to the weather service. In the west suburbs, Roselle recorded 7 inches of snowfall and Naperville received 6.5 inches. In the city, as much as 5.8 inches of snow fell at Midway International Airport. Closer to the lake, Chicago saw as little as 1.7 inches of snow.

       There is a light chance of snow for Saturday afternoon. More than an inch of “light, fluffy snow” could fall Saturday night into Sunday.

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       Following a hectic Friday with more than 1,000 canceled flights, the city’s two airports had another batch of cancellations Saturday, including 198 at O’Hare as of noon, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. At Midway, 18 flights were canceled, most of them on Southwest, Midway’s dominant carrier.

       Most of the O’Hare cancellations were by United Airlines, which is one of two major U.S. carriers that operate Boeing 737 Max 9 jets that were grounded after a door plug blew out midflight on an Alaska Airlines jet last week. United did not specify how many cancellations at O’Hare were related to weather on Saturday.

       A caution sign for falling ice is posted at the corner of Madison and Dearborn streets Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

       Drivers overnight dealt with a combination of snow falling and blowing across roads and interstates, with snow sticking on the ground more heavily in the suburbs, the weather service said.

       The Illinois State Police reported a fatal crash on I-94 near 75th Street on the city’s south side early Saturday. It was unknown whether the crash was due to weather.

       Around noon, most main roads in Cook County were only partly covered with ice or snow, according to an Illinois Department of Transportation map. Some interstates in the north and southwest suburbs were mostly covered with ice or snow.

       The city deployed more than 200 salt spreaders Saturday to clear snow and ice on residential streets.

       After several nights of wet snow this week, the area will face a cold wave, with frigid temperatures to arrive Saturday afternoon after light snow showers die down. Wind chills as low as minus 30 degrees will hit Chicago through Tuesday night, the weather service predicted. The area is under a wind chill advisory until 9 a.m. Wednesday.

       “Winds will increase throughout the day [Saturday] and usher in much colder temperatures that will lock in place over the Chicago region,” said meteorologist Scott Baker.

       [ After blanket of snow, winter storm warning remains in place for Chicago area with frigid cold wave on its way ]

       The weather service said on social media that the warm start to winter will make the coming cold wave feel “much worse.” The first 43 days of winter in Chicago has been the third mildest season on record behind 1890 and 1878, according to the weather service.

       The average temperature from Dec. 1 to Jan. 12 has been 37.1 degrees, roughly 7.9 degrees higher than normal.

       Around 770 ComEd customers were experiencing power outages Saturday around noon, with 58 customers without power in Chicago.

       At a Friday news conference inside the city’s emergency communications center, Mayor Brandon Johnson and other officials highlighted efforts to keep Chicagoans, particularly migrants and homeless people, warm.

       City workers were canvassing across the city to conduct well-being checks and connect homeless people to shelter over the next several days, he said.

       [ Mayor Brandon Johnson will delay enforcing migrant shelter evictions policy, acknowledges pause on opening new sites ]

       “I echo our city leadership today in saying that we are ready for the services and resources to keep residents and our new arrivals safe this winter,” Johnson said. “The full force of government is committed to the people of Chicago and new arrivals in this season.”

       The heavy storm also disrupted schools Friday, with 32 Chicago Public Schools experiencing brief outages.

       aguffey@chicagotribune.com

       Originally Published: Jan 13, 2024 at 8:37 am