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CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman, Susan Carlson and Ed Curran, Suzanne Le Mignot and the STNG Wire, contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Thunderclaps waking up the city at 3:30 a.m. might be seen as a welcome sign of spring coming.

But the calendar and the temperatures still say winter, and an icy mix has made the roads dangerous and caused dozens of accidents.

Low visibility and inclement weather to the west, south and east is leading to flight delays and more cancellations at O'Hare and Midway International Airports.

As of 2:30 p.m. O'Hare delays averaged 60 minutes for all flights, and are likely to continue throughout the afternoon, according to the city Department of Aviation. More than 425 flights have been cancelled in and out of O'Hare as of 2:30 p.m.

Midway reports less than 10 cancelled flights and delays ranging from 40 minutes to 2 hours as of 2:30 p.m., according to an Aviation release.

All travelers passing through Chicago's airports today should contact their airline ahead of time to check on the status of flights.

Lightning from the morning storm might also be to blame for damage to a church in the Wicker Park neighborhood. Police reported that bricks fell from a church in the 1400 block of North Paulina Street shortly after 9 a.m. No one was hurt, but a lightning strike was suspected as the cause, police said.

From sunrise until mid-morning, the precipitation stopped and there were even some spots of blue sky. But a new round of storms was coming in as of 11 a.m., and more rain, ice and sleet are expected to pass through in the afternoon.

Downstate, tornado watches have been issued. On Wednesday in western Missouri, a tornado touched down and left a 7-year-old boy dead, and in parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, more than a foot of snow could fall.

As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, slippery conditions were seen along all area roadways earlier in the morning. An Illinois State trooper said particularly north of the Stevenson Expressway, roads were icy and treacherous.

In the trooper's words, the Edens and Kennedy expressways were "horrific."

He said at 3:30 a.m., the ice storm came out of nowhere, and by 5 a.m., state police were handling at least 30 accidents, all drivers who either ran off the road or hit a median. Ramps have been especially slick.

On Lake Shore Drive, the pavement was covered with heavy, wet ice. But city surface streets seemed to exhibit fewer problems.

Among the specific problem areas at 5:30 a.m. were the Edens at Dundee Road, and the Kennedy at North Avenue, where there was a five-car crash. On the Kennedy at Addison, a crash occurred just after transportation crews had cleaned up an earlier accident scene.

At North Avenue, the tow truck driver said he had already towed about 10 cars by the 5 a.m. hour Thursday morning.

The average speed on the Kennedy seemed to be about 50 mph, but drivers are encouraged to go slower than that.

"The three magic words that everybody needs to keep in mind is, 'proceed with caution,'" Illinois Department of Transportation spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said. "There's almost a false sense of security for drivers on the road today, because the rain has let up. But we have a mixed bag of weather throughout the day."

The city Department of Streets and Sanitation also sent out trucks to monitor the situation in case plowing was required.

The greatest volume of slush and ice was seen on the city's North Side, from Belmont Avenue north to the city limits and from Central Park east to Lake Shore Drive.

The Streets and Sanitation trucks were added to "monitor conditions citywide just in case an isolated pocket or two occurred anywhere else," department Commissioner Mike Picardi said in a news release.

The 177 plow trucks were off the road by 9 a.m.

In addition to weather-related problems, construction has resumed for the year on the Dan Ryan Expressway, where one lane is closed in each direction between 71st and 95th streets. The ramp from the outbound Dan Ryan to the Stevenson was scheduled to be closed, but officials kept it open Thursday due to the conditions.

There is also a threat of flooding due to melting snow. But temperatures for the rest of the day are expected to be on the mild side, with a high of 46 degrees.

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