As ComEd works to restore power to thousands of suburban customers after a strong ice storm accompanied by sleet and high winds Wednesday blew over trees and powerlines in the Chicago area, one weather threat still remains on this dry Thursday: gusty winds.
Although the threat of winter storms and ice accumulation for the week has passed, forecast models for Thursday show westerly winds increasing across the area as a cold front sweeps through, with gusts of up to 40 miles per hour possible.
And, as temperatures continue to drop, strong winds blowing heavy, ice-covered branches and powerlines could result in even more damage as the day goes on, experts say.
"Where there is still ice on trees, due to the gusty winds, there could certainly be more power outages," NBC 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Iisha Scott warns.
As of 12:30 p.m., ComEd's outage map shows 69,590 customers currently without power. Earlier Thursday, that number was close to 90,000.
Overall, ComEd says, more than 200,000 customers lost power.
According to the outage map, the majority of customers without power -- nearly 24,000 of them -- are in McHenry County. Of those, more than 4,000 are in Crystal Lake.
Local
Across Cook County, more than 6,000 customers remain without power, with the majority of residents in Hanover Park, Barrington, Streamwood and Elgin.
In Kane County, where several schools are closed due outages, more than 8,300 residents remain without power.
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Lake County power outages currently remain at 3,664, down significantly from the more than 7,000 outages reported early Thursday.
"The storms damaged trees and equipment, causing power outages for approximately 216,000 customers," a Thursday statement from ComEd said. "Nearly 1,700 ComEd and contractor crews will be working around the clock to restore power to customers."
"The combination of widespread ice and high winds has led to a multi-day recovery effort to restore all the customers affected by this storm," ComEd added. "Layers of ice on trees, roads and equipment create additional hazards for utility crews leading to additional outages and longer restoration times well after the storm has passed."
According to the utility, power is expected to be restored to 80 percent of customers by 11 p.m. Thursday. However, "in pockets with the most significant damage may last until late Saturday night," ComEd says, "or early Sunday morning."
As of Thursday afternoon, crews have resorted power to nearly 134,000 customers, ComEd says.
Thursday Forecast
According to the NBC 5 Storm Team, much of Thursday is expected to remain dry, and the threat of additional icing has come to an end, as temperatures in the morning hours remain above 32 degrees.
However, as a cold front moves in, temperatures are are expected to quickly drop, and wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour will remain.
Additionally, a dense fog advisory that remained in effect until 9 a.m. created low visibility and potentially hazardous conditions across the area.
Thursday evening is expected to be mostly cloudy, breezy and cold, temperatures in the mid teens to mid 20s, forecast models show.
Friday, the NBC 5 Storm Team says, will be partly sunny and chilly, with his in the mid 20s to low 30s.
