Snow Season Information In Chicago, in the winter it snows. The City and its residents face the same challenge in dealing with an average of 39 inches of snow each winter. Getting through it. The Department of Streets and Sanitation monitors Chicago’s weather 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Our Snow Command Center has a direct line to the National Weather Service and maintains live Doppler radar feeds. We also have a series of computerized street surface sensors, digital real time cameras at critical roadway and street locations and a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) System to help manage and deploy our fleet movement.

We want to help you get through the snow season. Your participation can help us all get through it more easily and effectively.

Shovel your sidewalk and steps. Children, their parents, senior citizens and your mail carrier will all appreciate the effort. If you have elderly or homebound neighbors, consider shoveling theirs too.

Dig out your car and shovel away the snow in front and in back. Toss shoveled snow onto the parkway, not into the street. If everyone on the block does that, curbsides will be clear, providing more space to park.

Dig out fire hydrants on your block. If there’s a fire, minutes saved could result in lives and property saved.

Dig out and clear your garbage carts of snow and ice. It can make trash pickup quicker and more efficient. Alleys are “tracked” by our vehicles rather than plowed. Conventional plowing only buries garage doors, garbage carts and dumpsters.

Businesses and building managers can assist by shoveling sidewalks and bus stops outside of their locations, and by removing dangling icicles.

Watch for these street signs. When you hear that a sizeable snowfall is coming, anticipate the “two-inch snow ban” and make sure that your car is parked in a safe, legal space where there are no regular or winter parking restrictions. This way you can avoid being ticketed, having your vehicle relocated nearby, or having to run out and move your car in the first place.

And between December 1st and April 1st there is an Overnight Parking Ban in effect on about a dozen main priority routes—approximately 107 miles of city streets from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. These signs are permanently posted and this restriction is strictly enforced with ticketing and towing regardless of whether it snows or not.

Your cooperation is essential to make sure that these critical priority routes that are used by emergency vehicles, buses and heavy vehicular traffic are kept clear.

Please visit City of Chicago’s website for much more information about the Snow Season. There are several maps and brochures created by the city so that you have the most current infomation.