Midway Airport Webcam – Chicago’s Square-Mile Airfield

The Midway Airport Webcam looks northwest up the runways of Chicago Midway International Airport from just outside the southeast corner of the field, near 63rd Street and Cicero Avenue. Runway 31R stretches away from the camera across the concrete, lined with grass strips and runway signs, and a pair of arched-roof hangars stands on the far side of the airfield while a white water tower rises over the trees and rooftops on the horizon. The camera pans, tilts and zooms, so the picture swings between a wide sweep of the field and a single jet filling the frame as it taxis past the fence. Southwest Airlines 737s supply most of the traffic, with business jets mixed in, and the stream runs around the clock.

About Midway Airport and the Camera

The camera is hosted by Pro Auto, a car repair business, and StreamTime Live has streamed it since May 2022. Runway numbers come from compass headings, so the 31 end of a runway points to about 310 degrees, northwest, and the shop sits right where those runways begin. Runway 13L/31R, 1,988 meters (6,522 feet) long, is the longest on the field and the one with an instrument landing system. It was called 13C/31C until June 2025, when the old 13L/31R beside it, closed since August 2023 and used as Taxiway H, was decommissioned and the center runway took its name.

Midway opened on December 12, 1927 as Chicago Municipal Airport, on ground first laid out as Chicago Air Park in 1923. It claimed the title of world’s busiest airport in 1932, was the busiest airline airport in the United States from 1948 until 1960, and was renamed for the Battle of Midway in July 1949. The airfield fills just over one square mile, about 260 hectares (650 acres), boxed in by 55th and 63rd Streets and Central and Cicero Avenues at an elevation of 189 meters (620 feet).

The terminal on Cicero Avenue has three concourses, A, B and C, with 43 gates. Midway handled 19.4 million passengers in 2025, down from 22.1 million in 2023, and Southwest carries more than 90% of them.

Weather and Climate at Midway Airport

Winters are cold and snowy. January averages highs of 0°C (33°F) and lows of -7°C (20°F), and the airport collects about 99 centimeters (39 inches) of snow a year, most of it from December to February. Snow turns the grass strips white and can thin out the traffic while crews clear the runways. Spring warms quickly, from highs of 16°C (60°F) in April to 22°C (72°F) in May. It is also the stormiest season, and May is the wettest month, at 121 millimeters (4.8 inches).

Summer afternoons average 30°C (85°F) in July, with nights around 20°C (68°F). Midway sits well inland and feels less of the lake breeze that cools the shoreline: the July average high at Northerly Island on the lakefront is about 28°C (82°F). October highs of 18°C (64°F) fall to 10°C (50°F) in November, when the grass along the runways fades to brown.

Things to Do Near Midway Airport

Inside the terminal, past security near the start of Concourse A, a Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber hangs from the ceiling as part of the Battle of Midway memorial exhibit. This aircraft ditched in Lake Michigan during carrier training in September 1944, was recovered from the lake in 1991 and went on display at the airport in 2004. Marquette Park lies about 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) east of the camera in Chicago Lawn. At 131 hectares (323 acres) it is the largest park on the Southwest Side, with a nine-hole golf course, a lagoon and a monument to Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas, the Lithuanian-American aviators who died on the transatlantic flight of the Lituanica. A memorial unveiled in 2016 marks the open housing march Martin Luther King Jr. led there in 1966.

Ford City Mall, about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) south down Cicero Avenue at 76th Street, opened in 1965 on the site of the Dodge Chicago Plant, a World War II defense plant where engines for the B-29 bomber were tested. For the city itself, the CTA Orange Line runs from Midway station to the Loop in about 20 to 25 minutes, and its Quincy stop is a block from the Willis Tower and its Skydeck.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Midway webcam show?

The runways of Chicago Midway from the southeast corner of the airfield, looking northwest up Runway 31R toward two arched-roof hangars on the far side. The camera pans, tilts and zooms, so the framing changes: wide across the grass strips and runway signs, or tight on a single taxiing jet. Southwest 737s are the most common aircraft.

Where is the Midway Airport webcam located?

At Pro Auto, just off the southeast corner of Chicago Midway International Airport near 63rd Street and Cicero Avenue. The airport lies in the Clearing and Garfield Ridge neighborhoods of Chicago’s Southwest Side, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) southwest of the Loop in a straight line.

How busy is Midway airport right now?

Watch the camera for a few minutes and count what crosses the frame. It sits low, just outside the fence at the southeast end of the runways, so jets landing on or taking off from Runway 31R pass close by. Steady movement means a busy spell. Several minutes of empty concrete means a quiet one, or that the wind has the airport using its other runways, since aircraft take off and land into the wind.

What time is Chicago Midway busiest?

There is no single rush hour. Southwest, which carries more than 90% of Midway’s passengers, schedules flights from early morning into the late evening, and the overnight hours are usually the quietest on camera. Spring thunderstorms and winter snow reshuffle the schedule often, so on any given day the live picture is a better guide than a timetable.

How big is Midway compared with O’Hare?

Much smaller. Midway is the second-busiest airport in the Chicago area after O’Hare, and its airfield covers just over one square mile, about 260 hectares (650 acres). The terminal has three concourses with 43 gates, and the airport handled about 19.4 million passengers in 2025.

What is the weather like at Midway Airport?

Cold, snowy winters and hot summers. January averages highs of 0°C (33°F) and lows of -7°C (20°F), with about 99 centimeters (39 inches) of snow a year, while July afternoons average 30°C (85°F). May is the wettest month, at 121 millimeters (4.8 inches).

Can the Midway Airport webcam show weather delays?

It shows the conditions behind them: snow on the grass strips, rain on the concrete, low cloud or fog hiding the far hangars, and whether aircraft are moving at all. It cannot show which flights are late, so check your flight with the airline before heading to the airport.

Source: StreamTime Live