Icy Conditions & Wind Chills Prompt School And Road Closings

snow in Champaign
Snowy streets in Champaign on February 13, 2020.

UPDATED Friday 7:15 a.m. – Icy conditions forced some roads to close in Central Illinois and some schools to close or delay opening on Friday. Much of the area is also under a Wind Chill Advisory. Here are the latest closures:

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY

Champaign Unit 4 Schools – Closed Friday

Heritage Unit School District #8 – Closed Friday

Ludlow District 142 – Closed Friday

Mahomet-Seymour CUSD #3 – Closed Friday

Rantoul City Schools 137 – Closed Friday

Rantoul Township High School – Closed Friday

St. Thomas School in Philo – Closed Friday

DEWITT COUNTY

Clinton CUSD #15 – Closed Friday

Heyworth CUSD #4 – Closed Friday

FORD COUNTY

Gibson City Melvin Sibley Unit 5 Schools – Closed Friday

Paxton Buckley Loda CUSD #10 – Closed Friday

MACON COUNTY

Decatur Public Schools – Closed Friday

Maroa-Forsyth Schools – Closed Friday

Meridian CUSD #15 – Closed Friday

Mount Zion CUSD #3 – Closed Friday

PIATT COUNTY

Deland Weldon CUSD #57 – Closed Friday

Monticello CUSD #25 – Closed Friday

VERMILION COUNTY

Bismarck-Henning CUSD #1 – Closed Friday

Danville District 118 – Closed Friday

Georgetown-Ridge Farm Schools – Closed Friday

Hoopeston Area School District #11 – Closed Friday

Salt Fork Schools – Closed Friday

Westville School District #2 – Closed Friday

ROAD CLOSURES

Updated Friday at 7:30 a.m.: The city of Champaign tweeted that South Mattis Avenue between Kenny Drive and Curtis Road has reopened. Public works closed the stretch of roadway nearly 12 hours earlier because of car accidents and icy road conditions. 

According to the National Weather Service Central Illinois office, up to three inches of snow fell in the Champaign-Urbana area on Wednesday and Thursday. Temperatures plummeted Thursday evening below freezing turning much of the snow and slush into solid ice. 

WIND CHILL ADVISORY

In addition, the National Weather Service Central Illinois posted a Wind Chill Advisory for Cass, Champaign, DeWitt, Fulton, Knox, Logan, Macon, Marshall, McLean, Menard, Morgan, Peoria, Piatt, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Stark, Tazewell, Vermilion and Woodford Counties until Friday at 10:00 a.m.  Low temperatures on Thursday night/Friday morning are forecasted to be in the single digits with wind chills as low as 20 below zero. 

The City of Rantoul has opened a warming shelter at Forum Fitness Club at 100 E. Flessner Avenue until 9:00 p.m. After-hours, people looking for warmth are encouraged to go to the police department at 109 E. Grove Avenue.

Reginald Hardwick

Reginald Hardwick is the News & Public Affairs Director at Illinois Public Media. He oversees daily newscasts and online stories. He also manages The 21st Show, a live, weekday talk show that airs on six NPR stations throughout Illinois. He is the executive producer of IPM's annual environmental TV special "State of Change." And he is the co-creator of Illinois Soul, IPM's Black-focused audio service that launched in February 2024. Before arriving at IPM in 2019, he served as News Director at WKAR in East Lansing and spent 17 years as a TV news producer and manager at KXAS, the NBC-owned station in Dallas/Fort Worth. Reginald is the recipient of three Edward R. Murrow regional awards, seven regional Emmy awards, and multiple honors from the National Association of Black Journalists. Born in Vietnam, Reginald grew up in Colorado and is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. Email: rh14@illinois.edu Twitter: @RNewsIPM