Winter Storm Gorgon: Over 100 Flights Cancelled In Chicago, Storm To Move East In 48 Hours

Over 100 flights were cancelled and nearly 500 were delayed at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport late Monday as winter storm Gorgon raced across the United States bringing wind chills as low as minus 30 degrees, media reports said Tuesday. The storm also threatened to dump snow across a 2,000-mile stretch of the country before Tuesday morning when it is expected to hit the Mideast and East Coast.

The banks of Lake Michigan in Chicago had started freezing and residents are expected to witness as much as five inches of snow by early Tuesday, media reports said. Between 2 inches to 4 inches of snow could accumulate in northern Chicago,while the city's south could see accumulations of 3 inches to 6 inches, The Chicago Tribune reported, citing the National Weather Service.

"Winter Storm Gorgon is a very fast-moving storm, taking roughly 48 hours to move from the West Coast to the East Coast," Nick Wiltgen, a senior meteorologist for weather.com reportedly said. "It moves into an area, dumps several inches of snow in a relatively short time, and then moves out."

The Illinois Department of Transportation reported that most road problems in the southern suburbs occurred due to white-out conditions in the area.

"We have a few (accidents) here and there," Illinois State Police District Chicago Sgt. Dominick Falcone reportedly said. "At this point in time things are under control, but we are expecting it to get worse as time goes on."

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel reportedly said that schools would remain open on Tuesday, but it was unclear if they could remain open on Wednesday as well.

“When you have both the snowfall as well as the temperature drop, we're going to be monitoring on a minute-by-minute basis as it relates to the weather, and make a decision with enough time for parents to both plan and prepare,” Emanuel reportedly said at a news conference Monday.

The winter storm reportedly formed Sunday over the northwest, but only started moving on Monday. Several inches of snowfall and strong winds reportedly forced the closure of schools in Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas and Iowa. More than a foot of snow has been observed in parts of southeastern Idaho and the heaviest snow is expected to fall east of Idaho on Tuesday.