This is about right timing wise. Weather models are notoriously unpredictable anything more than 24 hour out (as in, worse than a coin-toss between various outcomes). That's why the US military won't use weather forecasts beyond 12 hours when planning operations. So now that we're getting closer to that window the National Weather Service can actually begin to issue warnings instead of watches.

I'd have to agree that avoiding ORD if you can would seem to have gone from prudent to neccessary.