A blizzard left Lake and McHenry counties with up to 13 inches of snow in some places, knocking out power, closing schools and causing traffic delays.
A blizzard warning was issued by the National Weather Service from 6 p.m. Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday morning for Lake and McHenry counties.
In McHenry County, 13.1 inches of snow was measured near Bull Valley, which was a record for November. 7.6 inches of snow was measured in Crystal Lake, 11.5 inches in McHenry and 9 inches near Harvard, according to the National Weather Service.
In Lake County, the highest measured was 9 inches in Lindenhurst, the National Weather Service said. 7.8 inches were measured near Hawthorn Woods and most areas of Lake County received between 6 and 8 inches of snow.
High winds caused whiteout conditions throughout many parts of both counties. The winds also caused numerous wires, poles and trees to fall down and catch fire.
Early Monday morning ComEd reported that over 363,000 customers in the Chicago area experienced a power outage because of the snow storm.
“ComEd is focused on restoring power to all customers and our crews are now in the field assessing damage and preparing to restore power as soon as conditions are safe. We are actively monitoring the situation. ComEd will focus first on restoring power to those who need it most, such as emergency facilities, hospitals, and nursing homes,” the company said.
A large number of car crashes were also reported throughout the area Sunday into Monday morning.ย In Lake in the Hills, a police car was involved in a crash with injuries near Randall Road and Miller Road Sunday evening.
In Fox Lake, a rollover crash left multiple injured at Route 12 and Hartigan Road around 2 p.m. Sunday. Around the same time in Lake Villa, another rollover crash left a person trapped for over an hour while firefighters worked to free the victim from the car.
A majority of schools in Lake and McHenry counties closed Monday or had late starts. The Lake County Circuit Court and all McHenry County government offices and courts were also closed Monday.