WATCH: Storm buries Midwest in over a foot of snow, Illinois issues disaster proclamation
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CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — A winter storm blanketed the Midwest with up to a foot and a half of snow as officials urged residents to stay off the roads as wind chills and snow continued into Tuesday afternoon.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker issued a disaster proclamation for the state Tuesday as the National Weather Service reported that 18 inches of snow had fallen in the Chicago-area by 8 a.m. Tuesday. The declaration means Illinois can tap additional state help and seek federal assistance.
Two people shovel a path around a snowed in car Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, after an overnight snow storm dumped up to 18.5 inches in the Chicago area. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) 
Maintenance workers plow and remove fresh fallen snow Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in the Bronzville neighborhood of Chicago, after an overnight storm dumped up to 18.5 inches. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) 
Cars sit buried Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, under nine consecutive days of measurable and fresh fallen snow in the Bronzville neighborhood of Chicago, after an overnight storm dumped up to 18.5 inches. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) 
A man crosses Roosevelt Road Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, as commuters wait for a Chicago Transit Authority train after an overnight storm dumped up to 18 inches of snow in the Chicago area. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) 
A woman crosses Wabash Avenue Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, after an overnight storm dumped up to 18.5 inches in the Chicago area. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) 
A man walks past mounds of plowed snow from nine consecutive days of measurable and fresh fallen snow Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
“I have directed my administration to use all resources at our disposal to keep our communities safe amid dangerous and ongoing winter weather,” Pritzker said in a statement. “We are also working with our federal partners to pursue federal assistance to help communities recover and to do what we can to protect ratepayers from soaring utility bills.”
Illinois State Police and the state Department of Transportation to encourage people to stay at home Tuesday while crews clear roadways.
In Indiana, Indianapolis police and public safety officials issued a travel advisory for the metropolitan area, urging residents to travel only if absolutely necessary through Wednesday morning to allow snowplows to clear snow.
In parts of central Indiana the storm left more than 11 inches of snow by Tuesday afternoon, according to NewsNation affiliate WXIN.
Iowa continued to see thousands of people vaccinated this week, despite a weather system that has pushed freezing air and snow into the state in recent days.
In Lincoln, Nebraska, a reading of minus 31 degrees Fahrenheit Tuesday shattered a record set in 1978 of minus 18F.
