More Than 700 O'Hare, Midway Flights Canceled Due To Winter Storm

CHICAGO — A day after holiday travelers hoping to get out of Chicago saw many of their flights canceled at the city’s two airports, bitter cold temperatures and high winds continue to snarl air traffic.

More than 500 flights out of O’Hare International and Midway airports have already been canceled on Friday as arctic winter storm that dropped wind chills to nearly 35 degrees below zero overnight continues to hover over the Chicago area.

As of late Friday morning, 409 flights at O’Hare have been canceled on Friday, according to FlightAware.com. Another 335 flights are delayed at the airport, which experienced long lines of travelers on Thursday attempting to check luggage for flights that did manage to get out.

At Midway, 302 flights have been canceled for Friday with another 66 that are delayed, according to the website.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning which remains in effect until early Saturday morning. While snowfall totals weren’t nearly as high as originally expected, high winds are blowing snow around and have made roads and expressways treacherous for motorists trying to get around.

Chicago Aviation officials are expecting 2.9 million air travelers to pass through the city’s airports between now and Jan. 2.

Friday’s forecast calls for actual air temperatures to remain below zero with wind chills remaining around -34 below zero for the day. Forecasters are calling for stray snow showers under cloudy conditions before high winds are expected to die down overnight and into Saturday.