Spring snow grounds flights, closes schools
Story Highlights• More than 200 flights canceled at O'Hare Airport
• Wisconsin could get 10 inches of snow
• Schools closed in southern Minnesota
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CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Another spring snowstorm spread across the upper Midwest on Wednesday, closing schools and grounding more than 200 airline flights.
North Dakota had already measured 7 inches of snow, and up to 10 inches was possible in Wisconsin, the National Weather Service said.
More than 200 flights were canceled at O'Hare International Airport because of poor visibility, said aviation spokeswoman Wendy Abrams. The airport also had delays that were about 60 to 90 minutes on inbound and outbound flights. Delays at Midway Airport were about 20 to 30 minutes, she said. (Watch the Spring snow fall on Texas )
Nearly two dozen school districts canceled classes Wednesday across southern Minnesota, where up to 6 inches of snow was forecast.
Snow this late is not unusual, said weather service meteorologist Andrew Krein in Chicago.
"Typically every few years we'll get some snow in April," Krein said. "Snow in April is not unheard of."
However, the forecast amounts did get attention. Up to 9 inches of snow was forecast in northern Iowa, where normal temperatures at this time of year are in the 60s.
"This is quite unusual in terms of snowfall this late in the season," said Rich Kinney, a weather service meteorologist in Johnston, Iowa.
Five inches of snow was possible in northern Illinois, before turning to rain during the afternoon.
During the weekend, a cold wave sent temperatures to the freezing point as far south as the Gulf states, devastating crops, and heavy snow wiped out scheduled Angels-Indians baseball for four straight days at Cleveland. (Full story)
The teams' games were finally moved to an enclosed field at Milwaukee.
