Chicago Winter Parking Ban 2026-27: Streets, Map, Tow Costs

Chicago’s winter parking ban runs from 3 to 7 a.m. every morning from Dec. 1 through April 1 on 20 stretches of 18 streets, snow or no snow, and a car left there can be towed, at a cost of at least $210 plus $25 a day in storage. In the past 26 complete winters, O’Hare recorded two inches or more of new snow on a median of five days between Dec. 1 and March 31.

City of Chicago street files and Department of Streets and Sanitation rules, NOAA daily records for O’Hare · read October 19, 2026

Chicago has two snow parking rules, and they work differently. The winter overnight parking ban runs on a calendar: the same streets, the same four hours, every morning of the season. The two-inch snow ban covers a much longer list of main streets and is tied to two inches of snow on the street, under wording the city gives two ways, set out below. This page lists the overnight-ban streets from the city’s own file, maps both, and sets them beside how often two inches of snow actually falls.

When does the Chicago winter parking ban start?

Under the city’s rule the ban starts on Dec. 1 and runs through April 1. This winter the first restricted hours are 3 to 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2026, the night of Monday into Tuesday, and the last are on Thursday, April 1, 2027: 122 mornings in all. The Department of Streets and Sanitation’s winter parking page says the ban is enforced “regardless of snow.” Last year the department announced the start on Nov. 28, and it says it posts flyers on parked cars along the routes before the restrictions begin. The signs along the routes are permanent.

Map of the Chicago winter parking ban and 2-inch snow routes

The two snow parking rules, mapped. Orange: the 20 stretches under the winter overnight parking ban, 3 to 7 a.m., Dec. 1 to April 1. Blue: the 144 stretches of two-inch snow routes. Short connecting stretches are unlabeled. From the city’s two street files on its data portal, last updated December 2021; community areas from the city’s boundary file.

Which streets are on the winter parking ban?

The city’s file lists 20 stretches on 18 streets. The three longest are Kedzie Ave (13.1 miles, most of it from North Avenue to 87th Street), 79th St (12.8 miles, from Cicero Avenue to South Shore Drive) and Archer Ave (10.3 miles, from State Street to Harlem Avenue). Measured along the file’s own lines the stretches add up to 98 miles; the city cites 107. The file was last updated in December 2021.

The winter overnight parking ban, as the city’s file lists it. Five names are shown here in standard form: Ellsworth Dr (the file has Elsworth), Desplaines St (Des Plaines), N Central Ave (N Central), N LaSalle Dr (La Salle) and Dr Martin Luther King Jr Dr (once without Jr). Miles measured from the file’s geometry
Street	Stretch	Miles
N Kedzie Ave	W North Ave to W 87th St	12.1
N Kedzie Ave	W Moffat St to N Milwaukee Ave	1.0
79th St	S Cicero Ave to S South Shore Dr	12.8
Archer Ave	S State St to S Harlem Ave	10.3
103rd St	S Torrence Ave to S Kedzie Ave	7.3
E 103rd St	S Torrence Ave to S State Line Rd	1.8
N Milwaukee Ave	W Foster Ave to W Kinzie St	8.8
Central Ave	W Harrison St to W Bryn Mawr Ave	7.6
W Division St	N Austin Blvd to N LaSalle Dr	7.3
W Madison St	Austin Blvd to Desplaines St	6.7
S Cottage Grove Ave	E Midway Plaisance to E 103rd St	5.6
S Dr Martin Luther King Jr Dr	E Cermak Rd to E Garfield Blvd	5.5
W Foster Ave	N Central Ave to N Clark St	5.2
S State St	Congress Pkwy to Cermak Rd	1.6
N Clark St	W Devon Ave to W Howard St	1.5
E Midway Plaisance	S Cottage Grove Ave to S Dorchester Ave	1.5
E Rainey Dr	S Ellsworth Dr to S Cottage Grove Ave	0.5
E Cermak Rd	S State St to S Dr Martin Luther King Jr Dr	0.4
S Torrence Ave	E 103rd St to E 106th St	0.4
W Garfield Blvd	S Ellsworth Dr to S Dr Martin Luther King Jr Dr	0.1

Which parts of the city have a ban street?

The ban streets cross 52 of the city’s 77 community areas. The most ban mileage is in Ashburn (7.6 miles), Austin (6.6 miles), West Town (5.7 miles), Brighton Park (3.6 miles) and Portage Park (3.6). The other 25 areas have no ban street at all: Calumet Heights, Clearing, Dunning, Edison Park, Englewood, Fuller Park, Hegewisch, Hermosa, Kenwood, Lake View, Lincoln Park, Lower West Side, Montclare, Morgan Park, New City, North Center, Norwood Park, Oakland, O’Hare, Riverdale, West Elsdon, West Englewood, West Lawn, West Pullman and West Ridge. All of those but O’Hare and Riverdale have two-inch snow routes.

What happens to a car parked on a ban street?

The department says violators “will be towed.” Under its rules the owner then owes a towing charge of at least $150, a $60 ticket and $25 a day in storage: $210 before storage, and more if the tow costs more than the minimum. Cars go to Pound 2, at 10301 S. Doty Ave., or Pound 6, at 701 N. Sacramento. The city’s release says motorists can visit chicagoshovels.org or call 311 “to find out if their vehicle was towed due to the ban.”

What is the 2-inch snow parking ban?

It is a second list of streets, 144 stretches in the city’s file, 609 miles by its geometry; the city’s page says “another 500 miles of main streets.” The city describes its trigger two ways. The data portal’s file says: “No parking is allowed on Snow Routes when there is two or more inches on the ground regardless of date or time.” The Streets and Sanitation page says the ban “can be activated after there are at least two inches of snow on the street, no matter the time of day or the calendar date,” and that it “is not activated often.” The same page says a car parked on one of those streets when it snows can be ticketed or relocated. The city says both rules exist to prevent a repeat of 1967 and 1979, when Chicago came to a traffic standstill in major snowstorms.

How often does Chicago get two inches of snow?

Less often than the ban runs. In the 26 winters since 1996–97 with a complete record, O’Hare had a median of five days from December through March with two inches or more of new snow, from 2 in 2024–25 to 17 in 2013–14. Two inches or more lay on the ground at the airport on a median of 23 days. Last winter, 2025–26, had three days with two inches of new snow and 23 with two inches on the ground.

O’Hare, Dec. 1 to March 31. NOAA daily summaries, station USW00094846
Winter	Days with 2+ inches of new snow	Days with 2+ inches on the ground	Snow, Dec. through March
2025–26	3	23	23.7 in.
2024–25	2	14	14.7 in.
2023–24	4	17	19.5 in.
2022–23	3	13	18.6 in.
2021–22	8	32	32.4 in.
2020–21	8	40	48.1 in.
2019–20	4	15	21.8 in.
2018–19	4	23	28.9 in.
2017–18	6	21	32.8 in.
2016–17	5	20	26.1 in.

Our reading: the overnight ban does not wait for snow because its purpose is the plowing plan. A car parked on those streets on any of the 122 mornings can be towed, while in a median winter O’Hare records two inches or more of new snow on only about five days from December through March. Last year’s release said as much: a consistent rule lets snow crews plan their work. The airport’s record shows how often enough snow falls for the two-inch rule to come into play; it is no record of that ban being in force, which no file here reports.

What this page can’t tell you

On the recordWhich stretches are under each rule, as the city’s two street files list them, and how long they are by the files’ geometry.
On the recordThe rules and penalties, quoted from the Department of Streets and Sanitation.
On the recordHow many winter days at O’Hare brought two inches of new snow, or had two inches on the ground.
Not establishedHow many cars the city tows under the ban. Its tow file covers only the last 90 days and records no reason for a tow.
Not establishedWhy the files add up to 98 miles and the city says 107. The files were last updated in December 2021.
Not establishedWhether the two-inch ban was in force on a given day. No file here records it.

How we counted

The streets. The city data portal’s Winter Overnight Parking Restrictions (mcad-r2g5, 20 rows) and Snow Route Parking Restrictions (i6k4-giaj, 144 rows), read October 19, 2026. Lengths are great-circle distances along each stretch’s line; the files’ own length field gives 98.1 miles for the overnight ban.
The areas. Each overnight-ban stretch was sampled every 50 feet or so and each point placed in a community area from the city’s boundary file. Mileage by area is the sum of those pieces.
The rules. The Department of Streets and Sanitation’s winter parking page and its Nov. 28, 2025 release, each quoted sentence checked against the page when read.
The snow. NOAA’s daily summaries for O’Hare (USW00094846), new snow and snow depth, Dec. 1 through March 31 of each winter from 1996–97 to 2025–26. The 26 winters used have a reading for every day. Four winters (1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99 and 2001–02) are missing 31 to 69 days of snow-depth readings and are left out of the medians.
What we did not do. We did not count tows or tickets, and the snow figures are not a record of the two-inch ban being in force.

Compiled by KCM Desk from City of Chicago files and pages and NOAA records read October 19, 2026. Human-guided and edited — about this desk. If you spot an error, corrections come first.