Amidst a bitterly cold winter season, Winter Storm Vulcan is dumping several inches of snow per hour across the Midwest, Great Lakes and interior Northeast.
With the arrival of Vulcan,
Chicago has seen its third snowiest season on record, according to The Weather Channel.
"We're going to look back on this as a historical winter, from a number of standpoints," said Tom Niziol, the channel's winter weather expert.
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Due to the storm, more than 950 domestic and international flights have been canceled, and many flights at the Chicago O'Hare International Airport were delayed more than an hour.
On Wednesday, the Chicago Midway airport received two inches of snow per hour. The city's northwest suburbs experienced light snow, while the south suburbs got over six inches. On average the city saw five inches of snow, which caused several power outages.
Further upstate, in northern Illinois, 43,000 homes and businesses lost power. 17,000 in central Illinois were also forced to go without power after Vulcan dumped several inches on them.
In New York, school closings and travel delays resulted from the blizzard conditions. Resulting whiteout conditions are expected in western New York, and state transportation officials have issued an advisory encouraging motorists to stay off the roads. Ten to 24 inches of snow are expected from Lake Erie to the Adirondacks. Buffalo City Hall has been officially closed due to the storm.
The Detroit area had almost broken its seasonal snowfall record, and local carpenter Craig Moilanen told The Weather Channel that the winter thus far hasn't "bothered him too much," but also commented that it was affecting his work and has "been getting old."
Spokeswoman Nancy Cain of AAA Michigan reports that rear-end collisions, cars in ditches, and other troubles have resulted in over 900 incidents that required help.
"Very busy but certainly not a record," she said.
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