Snowed Inn

Thought I'd tell you a bit about the HUGE snow storm that just hit most of the USA. Honestly, I know Americans think everything is bigger and better over here, but this baby was unbelievable. For a start, it stretched 2,500 miles across the middle of the country. The weather people were billing it as one of the biggest Chicago would ever see, and it would hit around 3pm on Tuesday. At 2pm, all was calm and I was of the mind that the impending storm was greatly exaggerated.

The first hint I got was when I went onto my shopping web site to order a delivery for Wednesday. All deliveries cancelled. Huh? So I went to the Thursday slots - all full. Ditto Friday. Eek. People are really taking this seriously.  Good job I have a handy dandy corner mini market.  Then we got the all-school voicemail and e-mail to say classes were cancelled for Wednesday. We have been at the ssame school for 14 years and have had one snow day in all that time. Eek. This is serious.

They got it slightly wrong in that the first snow started falling at about 2.40pm, but it was like someone had switched on a blizzard. The snow flakes were quite small and like, but the wind swirled them around so much that visibility quickly became about fifty yards. My kids walked three blocks from school and all complained about stinging faces. They never usually complain about the weather. It wasn't even that cold by Chicago standards (about 23 Farenheit).

For people driving the few miles home from downtown Chicago, it quickly became a nightmare with Lake Shore Drive choc-a-bloc with cars going nowhere. Some people sat in their cars for 5 hours before giving up, abandoning them and looking for alternatives. The stretch of Lake Shore Drive in question is my area. It has lake beaches on one side and Lincoln Park on the other so it would have seemed like a wilderness to many. Apparently even the ones who knew where they were going were terrified because the wind made it impossible to walk or stand up, and the snow seemed to be engulfing everything. Some people ended up spending the night on stranded buses. This is the middle of a city people! Not the middle of nowhere.

It looked like this:

 

This is what it looks like this morning (Thursday) as cars are removed.

We're a bit stuck at the moment because the front street looks a bit like this:

And the garage, at the back of the house has about five feet of snow against the door. Even if we dug out our bit, there's about four feet of snow in the alley. The Ball & Chain walked to the bus stop for the first time in years today.

For me, the most amazing thing was the thunder and lightening that was going on during the blizzard. Yes, you read that correctly. People had been talking about snow thunder and it didn't really register until I heard it. Very strange indeed.

So here we are, snowed in. The corner shop's supplies are dwindling but we have plenty of stuff in the freezer. I believe there are a few pubs open serving meals if we get desperate. The kids have another snow day so of course, the teens are still in bed and the Little Guy is parked in front of the Wii.

The dog is loving it, even though she ends up with ice balls stuck all over her legs and fur. I make her sit on a towel until she melts, which doesn't always go down well:

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