Kane school districts announce closures and e-learning due to winter storm

The National Weather Service is tracking another winter storm that arrived in Kane County in the early hours of the morning, and several Kane County school districts announced e-learning for the day.

Batavia School District 101, Geneva School District 304 and Kaneland School District 302 have all announced e-learning days for students due to the winter storm. St. Charles School District 303 has closed its schools and announced that all before and after-school activities are canceled Friday.

Kane County Division of Transportation had been preparing for this storm since the last one subsided earlier this week. KDOT maintenance superintendent Mike Way said they prepared five extra trucks for this storm and had a fleet of 30 plows ready to clear roads.

The first round is expected to subside before noon with the chance for some rain showers mixed in before switching back to snow as the second round begins early Friday afternoon.

Temperatures are expected to drop during the second round, and wind gusts up to 45 mph occur Friday evening. The freezing temperatures, wind and snowfall will likely be a recipe for dangerous road conditions throughout the night and into Saturday morning.

Way planned to have his crews running from the early morning through rush hour until around noon on Friday, when they will get a break before going back out for a second wave in the evening. He said he expects Kane County to see heavy drifting through the night on Saturday, especially on rural roads west of Route 47.

Way has been monitoring the storm from the KDOT “command center” in St. Charles, where he watches monitors that can access the weather station, radar, live traffic cameras, and the GPS and live dash cameras on their plow trucks.

“We will be ready for everything and keep the roads safe for the motoring public,” Way said. “We have a good plan.”

After the storm, Kane County should prepare for a cold snap beginning Sunday and continuing through Wednesday next week. There is potential for windchill temperatures reaching from the negative teens to as low as -30 degrees.