Airlines cancel more than 200 flights at O’Hare, Midway amid Halloween snowstorm

Airlines canceled more than 200 flights in Chicago Thursday morning amid a Halloween snowstorm pushing through the Chicago area.

Midway International Airport reported 125 canceled flights by 8 a.m., according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. That’s out of a total of 559 flights over the last 24 hours.

Despite the cancellations, there were 16 delayed flights at Midway averaging under 15 minutes each, the aviation department said.

Over the last 24 hours, O’Hare International Airport canceled 85 flights and reported 316 delayed flights.

The cancelations come amid a winter weather advisory in effect until 6 p.m. Thursday, stretching from northwest Indiana to Chicago to Rockford, the National Weather Service said.

O’Hare is expected is get 2 to 3 inches of snow by sunset, while Midway should see between 1 and 2 inches, according to weather service meteorologist Todd Kluber.

By 8 a.m. Thursday, O’Hare recorded 0.2 inches of snow, while Midway did not have a measurable amount, Kluber said.

A heavy band of snow already in Kane County is expected to move east throughout the day and hit Chicago by noon, Kluber said. The brunt of the snowfall is expected between noon and 4 p.m.

Snowfall totals will be lowest near the lake, where only a half inch of snow is expected to fall, Kluber said.

On Wednesday, the first snowstorm of the season dumped 1.2 inches of snow at O’Hare and knocked out power to 48,000 ComEd customers.