BLOOMINGTON - A winter storm with particularly bad timing stuck it to Central Illinois on Monday. And even though the snow is finished falling for now, bone-chilling wind chills of 5 to 10 below zero are expected tonight into Wednesday.

People driving home from work or with plans to bring in the new year had to deal with snow-packed roads, which led to numerous traffic accidents. But because of the sheer volume of accidents, it was unknown Monday night if any serious injuries were involved.

"It's going to be a very wintry start to the new year," said Chuck Schaffer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, Lincoln.

Today's forecast is for blowing snow, with a high of 17 and a low of 6. Wednesday will be mostly sunny with a high of 16 and a low of 6. With the wind chill, temperatures will feel well-below zero.

The snow entered Western Illinois about noon Monday, and started falling in McLean County about 2:45 p.m., the weather service said. Snowfall ended between 7 and 9 p.m. with totals of 2 inches at Lincoln; 4 inches in southwest Bloomington; 4.5 inches in Pontiac; and 2.8 inches in Morton, the weather service said.

State police at Pontiac estimated handling 100 weather-related calls in the first four hours after it began snowing, most of them cars in ditches or property-damage accidents. State police at LaSalle estimated about 50 similar calls. Reports of accidents, especially on interstates, were still being reported late Monday night.

On-duty police and firefighters, along with volunteer firefighters and other emergency responders, scrambled from one traffic accident to another over a span of several hours.

Patti Welander of LeRoy said her trip back from O'Hare Airport started getting iffy about 10 miles south of Joliet and continued on Interstate 55 between Pontiac and Bloomington to LeRoy.

"It was like ice was under the snow," she said, adding vehicles traveled as slow as 20 mph and there were 30 to 40 cars in ditches. Welander and her family flew in Monday from a vacation in Southern California.

Brown's Wrecker service of Bloomington had five tow trucks on the road handling dozens of calls, said Cheryl Brown. Wink's Shell & Towing said it handled about 20 calls in the first three hours, but turned down some motor club calls because those motorists had other options. "We never turn down anybody in distress," said Brian Price of Wink's.

The Chicago Department of Aviation said about 180 flights were canceled at O'Hare International Airport, according to The Associated Press. At Midway International Airport there were minor delays and no cancellations.

CIRA delays

Some flights were delayed or canceled at the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, according to its Web site. People should check ahead today before making a trip to the airport.

Business was brisk Monday after the storm at Circle City Cab, Bloomington, said Jeremy Robertson.

"It's doubled because of the weather. It's just everybody-people not wanting to take the bus, stranded motorists, people not wanting to walk two blocks to their friend's house. Nobody wants to walk in this snow."