CHICAGO (AP) — A late winter storm packing up to 10 inches of snow sent officials in weather-hardened Chicago into action Tuesday to prevent a repeat of scenes from two years ago, when hundreds of people in cars and buses were stranded on the city's marquee thoroughfare during a massive blizzard.

The storm was part of a system that started in in Montana, hit the Dakotas and Minnesota on Monday and then barreled through Wisconsin and Illinois on its way to Washington, D.C., where it was expected late Tuesday night. As the storm pushed toward the Mid-Atlantic region, people there were gathering supplies and airlines were canceling flights.

Since the 2011 blizzard that dumped 20 inches on Chicago, the nation's third-largest city has had it pretty easy snow-wise. But the storm that was moving through Tuesday could end up dumping the most there since that blizzard, after a relatively mild winter last year and a slow start to this year's.