A number of schools in the Chicago area announced closures Thursday due to the impending winter storm.
Morton Grove School District 69 in Skokie said its schools would be closed Thursday "due to the Winter Storm Warning currently issued for the Chicagoland area that predicts hazardous travel conditions for Thursday afternoon during our school dismissal times"
Fairview School District 72 said because of hazardous travel conditions expected Thursday afternoon, its schools would also be closed.
Some schools, however, switched to e-learning instead.
"Out of an abundance of caution, there will be no in-person school on Thursday, December 22, 2022. Rather we will have an e-learning/remote learning day for all students due to the forecasted extreme weather," East Prairie School District 73's website read.
In Oak Lawn, District 123 canceled all after school activities for Thursday and switched Friday classes to "emergency e-learning."
"This decision is being made far earlier than customary due to forecasted snow, cold temperatures, and windchill factors predicted for Thursday afternoon and Friday morning and in an attempt to provide families and staff time to make childcare arrangements," the district wrote on its website.
Dozens of other schools across the area have announced closures or switches to e-learning. For a full list click here.
High wind gusts mixed with dangerous wind chills and measurable snowfall will make for a "triple threat" in a major winter system set to hit the Chicago area starting Thursday.
Experts have been stressing that while snow totals may not amount to much, the conditions at the time the snow is falling will make travel nearly impossible and any time outdoors increasingly dangerous.
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The entire Chicago area is under a winter storm warning, which predicts wind gusts of up to 50 mph and wind chills as low as 35 degrees below zero.
The winter storm warning will begin at 9 a.m. Thursday in McHenry, DeKalb, Kane, LaSalle, Kendall and Grundy counties, according to the NWS. The warning will take effect in Lake, DuPage, Kankakee, Cook and Will counties in Illinois at noon and in Lake, Newton and Jasper counties in northwest Indiana starting at 3 p.m. CT.
It will remain in effect across the area until 6 a.m. Saturday.
Porter County, Indiana will see a blizzard warning beginning at 3 p.m. CT Thursday and continuing until 6 a.m. Saturday. The National Weather Service noted that such a warning is not based on snowfall amounts, but instead on winds and visibility.
Full forecast here.
