Snow Central: Everything You Need to Know to Prepare for Mokena's Snow

Warming Center

can be used as a temporary warming center for residents. To arrange for someone to let you in, call the non-emergency line at 708-479-3911.

Winter Parking

Whenever snowfall is over two inches (as it looks to be already), Mokena requires residents get their cars off the street so the snowplows can do their jobs. Failure to do this could result in a ticket of up to $750.

Questions or comments on this? Call the village at 708-479-3900 during regular business hours on Monday.

Road Closures and Conditions

Patch has teamed with Mapquest to offer live, local traffic maps, updated every five minutes with crashes, closures and danger spots. Follow that link or click on "Traffic & Gas" at the top of this page.

Metra Updates

You can check out updates from Metra's Rock Island line on Twitter.

Even if you don't use Twitter yourself, you can still see the updates by clicking that link.

Weather Conditions

Here's the National Weather Service conditions and forecast for Mokena.

School Cancellations

Most districts offer e-mail or phone blasts if they're cancelling school, but you can also check EmergencyClosingCenter.com or your kids' schools' websites.

Most Mokena students attend Lincoln-Way 210 or Mokena 159 schools, but some attend Summit Hill 161 and a smattering go to New Lenox 122 or Frankfort 157-C schools. Here are those websites, plus a few for local private schools.

• Lincoln-Way 210
• Mokena 159
• Summit Hill 161
• St. Mary's Catholic School
• Noonan's Elementary Academy
• New Lenox 122
• Frankfort 157-C

Snow Removal

The Patch Places directory has a list of Mokena businesses advertising snow removal.

Let me know at pauld@patch.com if there's a place we missed.

Pizza (and other food) Delivery

The Patch Places directory lists all the restaurants in Mokena that deliver. Call first.

Let me know at pauld@patch.com if there's a delivery place that we missed.

Elderly Relatives/Neighbors

The village and police department urge Mokena residents to check in on relatives and neighbors, especially elderly ones and ones in poor health. If you have a concern, call the Mokena Police non-emergency line at 708-479-3911.

Numbers to Call

• Any emergency: 911
• Police non-emergency: 708-479-3911
• Fire and ambulance non-emergency: 708-479-2121

Emergency Radio Stations

Mokena's official emergency radio stations are WJOL, 1340 AM and WLLI, 96.7 FM.

Updates from Patch

For updates on all breaking, snowy news you can sign up for e-mail alerts by clicking "Patch Newsletter" at the top of this page and entering your e-mail address when prompted.

You can also "like" us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

Shoveling Tips

Read this Popular Mechanics article covering shoveling safety from posture to heart health to hydration.

Driving Tips

Read AAA's tactics for getting where you want to go as safely as possible.

Snow Removal Tips Other than Shoveling

Here's The Weather Channel's guide for other snow options like snowblowers and chemicals.

Home Heating Tips

The U.S. EPA has both general tips for heating your home and environmentally conscious tips for heating your home.

Not-Setting-Your-House-On-Fire Tips

Download this pdf of winter fire safety tips from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's United States Fire Administration. You'll be asked if you want to open the file. You do.

Snowman Tips

The nerd in me is very proud that we get to go to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for snowman tips. I'm not kidding.

Also,

The Perfect Snowball

Weighing in on everything from gloves vs. mittens to where in your yard to find the best snow (snow near the house is warmer), this article from howtodothings.com can give you the edge in your snow wars.

Cocoa A Go-Go

Enjoy the top 20 hot cocoa recipes submitted and rated by Allrecipes.com readers.

We will be updating this article throughout the weekend, so let us know in the comments section below what additional info you might want and about any updates or corrections to the info we have.

Keep warm, Snowkena!