SNOMG! The Chicago Blizzard of 2011 - NOW it's snowing. (0900 2.2.11)

[NOTE: A year late and a dollar short?  So today is one year from this blizzard and I went looking for this post and discovered... I never posted it!  It managed to get stuck in my draft folder.  So here it is a little late.  Chicagoans, in our 50 degree weather today, can you believe this was us last year?]


Okay, all that big scary snow stuff they talked about heading our way?  IT'S HERE!

I did make a quick run out at 20:00 last night before I went to bed.  6 inches total then.

Then I woke up and went out this morning.

Um yeah... 13.5 inches now.  But here's what killed me.  I walked around for a few minutes taking pictures.  When I got back to the gauge I kept thinking, "Wasn't it the 14" mark that I could see before?  I'm sure it was."

Well, 12 minutes later, that mark was gone and 15" was in danger.

Almost an inch in 12 minutes.  12 minutes!

Now, 15 inches of snow is no joke, of course, but what really kicks you in the butt are the drifts. I stepped into one, not realizing it was over a drain and therefore a kind of snow-sinkhole and ended up in snow up to my hip!

 *My* car isn't a snow mushroom.  But the drift next to it means it's unlikely I'll be going anywhere in it any time very soon.  Especially since my street hasn't been plowed yet, so it hasn't been buried but good yet.

 Here's a shot down a nearby street.  There are footprints, but no tire tracks.  This isn't a 'major' road, but it's not really a side street either.  Obviously they haven't plowed anything but the major roads yet.

 Okay, so I said *my* car isn't a snow mushroom.  That seems to be by the luck of which side of the street I parked on.

 I love the divots made next to the cars on the left side of the street made by the way the snow drifted.










This is Montrose Ave. in Chicago.  It's a snow road.  As in, you may not park here when it snows.  I suspect these cars would have been towed if they hadn't had all the trucks rescuing people off near-by Lake Shore Drive.  They are plowed in but good.  As you can see, it was still seriously snowing (Heck, it's *still* seriously snowing almost two hours later) and mostly going horizontally.


Okay, there's more from this particular snow-check, but it's 11:00 now... 24 hours after I started blogging the storm.  Gotta go see how much we've gotten in a day.