CHICAGO (AP) — Blinding snow and blistering cold descended upon northern and central Illinois on Thursday as city and state officials braced for days of dangerously frigid temperatures.

The National Weather Service issued a wind chill warning through noon Friday, warning that temperatures could plummet to 10 to 15 below zero across northern Illinois. With winds gusts of around 30 mph, it could feel as low as 40 below.

Hundreds of schools across Illinois are closed for the day Thursday as dangerously cold air grips the state.

National Weather Service meteorologist Casey Sullivan says it was 11 below zero at O'Hare International Airport on Thursday morning. That's the coldest daytime temperature recorded at the airport in more than a decade.

The frigid weather caused the Chicago Park District to close its outdoor ice rinks for the day as a safety precaution, with promises of free skating on Friday.

Clear skies meant smooth flying weather at Chicago's two airports. Aviation officials reported no delays or weather-related cancellations at O'Hare and Midway.

As the snow ended Wednesday afternoon, cancelations reduced to around 250 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, down from more than 300 several hours earlier. Delays at O'Hare averaged up to 60 minutes.

At Midway International Airport, delays were around 30 minutes Wednesday afternoon, down from about an hour earlier; there were only a few cancelations at Midway.

Slippery, snowy conditions brought many expressways to a near standstill during the morning rush hour Wednesday. It took some suburban commuters more than two hours to make it into downtown Chicago.

Parts of northern Illinois received as much as eight inches of snow, with Chicago receiving between two and four inches, said meteorologist Stephen Rodriguez of the National Weather Service office in Romeoville.

Officials from the city's Department of Family and Support Services fanned out in Chicago Wednesday to encourage homeless residents to go to warming shelters, and they also checked on hundreds of elderly residents.

Rodriguez said the region should get a reprieve from the snow, with none forecast until late Friday or early Saturday.

Road conditions were hazardous, even deadly in places.

Illinois State Police said that a crash that killed a 26-year-old central Illinois woman early Wednesday was probably caused by a slick road. Rachel E. Higgins of Mt. Zion lost control of her car on Illinois 121 and slid into the path of a truck, police said. Higgins died at the scene, about 45 southwest of Bloomington, near Mount Pulaski.

Almost 4 inches of snow was on the ground in the area by that time, according to the weather service.

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