Update: Sangamon County declares Level 1 emergency for winter weather

Sangamon County has declared a Level 1 winter weather emergency, as freezing rain turned roads into sheets of ice creating hazardous conditions in and around Springfield Monday.

Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said current road conditions were "treacherous," and that people should limit travel. Roads in townships and rural areas were worse off than those closer to population centers, according to the sheriff.

"Residents should consider limiting travel unless it is necessary," Campbell said. "If you become stuck or stranded, please wait inside your vehicle until help arrives."

Level 1 is the lowest winter weather emergency level for Sangamon County, put into place when conditions on county roadways are hazardous. Residents are asked to use caution when driving, but unlike levels 2 and 3, roads are not closed as a result of the weather.

The predicted freezing rain materialized before 5 a.m. Monday in central Illinois. Sangamon County and neighboring counties continue under a winter weather advisory until midnight Tuesday.

Much like last Tuesday, when 20- to 30-below wind chills descended on the area, schools went to e-learning or closed, among them, Springfield public and private schools. Businesses also shuttered their doors and were delaying opening to allow employees to make it to work.

City of Springfield offices and Lincoln Library were operating from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday. A tweet from the city said it expected offices to be operating normal hours Tuesday.

Illinois Department of Transportation and city Public Works crews were spreading salt and brine in an effort to give commuters some traction.

"We'll continue to salt the roads, whatever it takes," said IDOT spokesman Paul Wappel, reached Monday morning. "If people are going to be out, be very, very careful and allow for a lot of extra time. Please ask yourself: do I really need to make this trip, whether it's a short or long one?"

Dave Fuchs, the director of the city's Office of Public Works said a full complement of road crews was out at 4 a.m.

"The salt's working. The temperatures are so close to freezing that it is really having a good effect (on the roads)," Fuchs said. "It's slushy, but slush is better than ice."

Public Works was making provisions for evening shift workers to relieve daytime workers as precipitation was predicted to last well into the evening hours of Monday.

More than 20 city trucks were expected to be on the roads, Fuchs said.

More: Schools go to e-learning or cancel with freezing rain, hazardous conditions expected

While eight vehicles did slide off into ditches Monday morning, Campbell there were no major injuries and no crash reports taken on county roads.

"We would recommend caution and try to avoid travel if you can," Campbell said.

Springfield Police Chief Ken Scarlette added that there were no major accidents in the city Monday morning.

The National Weather Service in Lincoln issued the winter weather advisory for Logan, Cass, Menard, Scott, Morgan, and Christian counties in addition to Springfield.

James Auten, a meteorologist with NWS, said that a warm front to the south is bringing warm air aloft into the area, with rain coming as a result. However, because of frigid temperatures over the past week, precipitation is freezing as it reaches the ground.

"The surface is cold, it's below freezing," Auten said. "The air temperature close to the surface is below freezing, so what's happening is that you're getting freezing rain or drizzle and it's coating a lot of the surfaces."

According to the NWS, over the next few days, 0.23 inches of ice will fall in Springfield, although warming temperatures may change freezing rain to just rain. Even with the warm-up, the cold ground temperatures may lead to slick conditions into Tuesday.

"With all that cold air we have the past couple of weeks, that means that the ground temperature's going to be pretty cold," Auten said. "Because the ground temperature's going to be cold, any rain that's going to fall – even though the air temperature might be 32 (degrees) – you're still going to get freezing conditions on exposed surfaces."

Auten said that several hours of sustained temperatures above freezing would be needed in order to melt much of the surface without receiving treatment from road crews. None of that, he says, will come until Tuesday at the earliest.

"What we need is a long-lasting 33 (degrees) pushing into 35 (degrees)," Auten said. "The temperature does increase into the overnight hours (and) now we're looking at mid-to-upper 30s tomorrow. Definitely, tomorrow's going to be much better. You still could have some issues during the evening commute (today) even though it may be 32 degrees, but as long as they keep stuff treated, the main roads should be fine."

Local and area school districts heeded weather forecasts and made announcements about going to e-learning or canceling classes by Sunday evening.

In-person classes were also canceled at the University of Illinois Springfield and Lincoln Land Community College.

In the event of electric trouble, City Water, Light & Power has established a dedicated hotline at (217) 789-2121 for reporting issues.

Crash caused highway to close

Interstate 72 westbound just west of the Wabash Avenue exit closed part of Monday morning due to a jackknifed tractor-trailer blocking all lanes, according to Illinois State Police.

After pushing back start times, SMTD ended up suspending operations Monday.

"The icy conditions (Monday) prevented our buses from safely navigating even a reduced level of service with snow routes," SMTD said on a Facebook post. "Major portions of previously thawed roads are re-icing over with continued rain and lack of traffic."

Senior Services of Central Illinois is closed. Also closed are offices for the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce.

Springfield Clinic locations were closed or closed early.

The Springfield Clinic 800 Building, Infusion at Springfield Clinic 800 Building and the Center for Plastic Surgery are all delayed opening.

Bariatrics at Springfield Clinic Main Campus East operated as telehealth only.

Additionally, the Urgent Care at Springfield Clinic Sherman and the Urgent Care at Springfield Clinic Main Campus were both closing at noon.

The annual membership meeting of the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance transitioned to Zoom due to the inclement weather.

Motorists heading out on the roads can check conditions at www.gettingaroundillinois.com. Sangamon County has also provided a site to check county highway conditions. Go to sangamonil.gov and click on "Winter Road Conditions" for updates.

Roadwork moved

South Grand Avenue, which had been closed between Ninth and 11th streets, has reopened earlier than anticipated because of the inclement weather.

An additional closure of that stretch of South Grand Avenue will be required at a later date to complete the remaining work.

The work is due to a new Norfolk Southern rail line being constructed on the 10th Street corridor.

The closure of Cook Street, also between Ninth and 11th streets, is being moved to Feb. 5-13 for the removal of the existing Norfolk Southern bridge pier.

Warming shelters open and ready to serve

While it isn't exactly the coldest day of the year, the icy conditions do allow the city's warming shelters to serve people who could use a dry, non-slick place to stay.

Jarid Brown, associate director for the Washington Street Mission, said there was a full house at the mission on Monday, which he said was typical for the facility. He did note that some regulars weren't able to come in and seek shelter.

"Not as many of the normal people are here," Brown said. "There's no shuttle running from the shelters today and SMTD's not in service. It's a similar-sized group, but it's not the same individuals that we normally see."

The crowds that were at the mission last week because of the extreme cold, were not there Monday. Brown said they had more people in the building on average than they normally get during an entire winter.

Here are the hours and locations of the city's warming shelters:

Municipal Center East (800 East Monroe Street): Open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Municipal Center West (300 South 7th Street): Open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Lincoln Library (326 South 7th Street): Open Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1-5 p.m.

Office of Community Relations (1450 Groth Street): Open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Helping Hands (2200 Shale Street): Overnight Shelter open daily, 5 p.m.-7 a.m.; Warming center open 24 hours; day services open daily, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Salvation Army Main Campus (1600 Clear Lake Avenue): Open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Washington Street Mission (408 North 4th Street): Open Monday-Friday, 7:30-10:30 a.m. and 12:30-4:30 p.m.; Saturday, 8-10 a.m.

St. John's Breadline (430 North 5th Street): Open Monday-Friday, 8-9 a.m. for breakfast and 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. for lunch; Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie. Reporter Zach Roth contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Freezing rain leads to winter weather emergency in Sangamon County