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Ground stop issued at O'Hare Airport due to snow, ice

By Will Hager
Published  March 16, 2026 8:31am CDT
O'Hare International Airport
FOX 32 Chicago
Mid-march snowstorm makes for icy commute across Chicago area

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The Brief

    • A winter storm prompted a ground stop at O’Hare Airport Monday morning.
    • The FAA halted departures as snow and ice moved through the Chicago area, with hundreds of flights canceled.
    • The storm also forced school closures and triggered blizzard warnings in parts of northern Illinois.

CHICAGO - A ground stop was issued at O'Hare Airport on Monday due to a winter storm dumping snow and ice across the region.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the ground stop for departures just after 8 a.m. It expired at 9:15 a.m.

In the past 24 hours, nearly 500 flights have been canceled at O'Hare Airport with Midway Airport reporting 33 cancellations. Delays at both airports were averaging around 20 minutes.

Ground stops were also issued for several hours on Sunday afternoon at both airports due to thunderstorms, canceling hundreds of flights in the wake of St. Patrick's Day celebrations that brought hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city.

Big picture view:

A Blizzard Warning is in effect until 1 p.m. in McHenry and DeKalb counties, with some areas potentially receiving up to six inches of snow.

Several Chicago-area schools announced closings and delayed openings Monday morning due to the severe weather.

The Source: The information in this report came from the National Weather Service and the Federal Aviation Administration.

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