Wintry mix may make roads icy for morning commute

A mix of freezing precipitation will briefly glaze the Chicago metro area during the Monday morning commute.

Snow, freezing rain and sleet will come into the area about 5:30 a.m. and make it to the lakefront by 6:30 a.m., National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Bardou said.

Precipitation will fall for one to two hours before it tapers off, Bardou said. By 9 a.m., the wintry mix should have moved east of Chicago.

Most areas are hovering around freezing point—between 30 to 32 degrees, Bardou said. There are locations with temperatures just above that mark, but roads could still be cold enough to ice over.

“Anyone traveling out there should use caution,” Bardou said. “There could be some slippery areas out there.”

As of 7:05 a.m., no crashes related to icy conditions had been reported in the city or on major expressways around the city and surrounding suburbs, according to Chicago Police and Illinois State Police.

Temperatures are expected to rise by mid-morning, and any accumulated precipitation should melt by then, Bardou said.

The high will hit 40 degrees on Monday and drop to a low of 31 by nighttime, according to the NWS.