Good morning, Netizens...

 

It is 5 AM CST Thursday, and in snow-blasted Chicago it is a bone-chilling 3 degrees while a great portion of the city remains closed.

 

The public offices, schools and cultural institutions which will remain closed Thursday, include:

• Chicago Public Schools including most private schools.

• Lake Shore Drive

• Chicago Transit Authority Yellow Line (all other CTA rail lines will be running)

• Early voting in ward offices (it will be available at 69 W. Washington; officials hope it will resume citywide Friday).

• Cook County Circuit Courts (except for Bond Court at the Criminal Courthouse at 26th and California)

• Cook County Jail (currently on lockdown)

• The City Colleges of Chicago

• DePaul, Columbia and Northern Illinois universities (Loyola will reopen)

• The Shedd Aquarium, the Museum of Science and Industry, and Adler Planetarium

• Navy Pier

According to their web site, the University of Illinois will be open for business, although some classes may have been cancelled.

O’Hare and Midway airport will both be open but travelers should check with the airlines to make sure flights have not been cancelled.

Power is expected to be restored for most of the Commonwealth Edison customers who lost power in Tuesday’s blizzard. More than 177,000 customers lost power during Tuesday’s blizzard, but only about 12,000 remained without power at 10 p.m. Wednesday, according to a ComEd statement. The majority of those still in the dark will have power restored by Thursday afternoon. Given the bitterly cold temperatures this morning, there will be the inevitable frozen pipes caused by a lack of heating.

 

There is no specific timetable when side streets will be cleared of snow. In some areas snow drifts as high as 5 feet are blocking residential areas.

 

In short, most of the City of Chicago is still snowbound and the residential streets are all but impassable for the second day in succession.

 

Dave

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