We definitely got hit by the Blizzard of 2011. We got a little bit of snow on Monday night, then 18-22 inches of snow (mainly in massive drifts) Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning. Since the snow came down with massive amounts of wind (we're talking 50+ mph here) we mainly got a TON of drifts. The doors had drifts against them that kept them from opening -- I understand that for fire code the doors have to open outward (have to go with the flow of traffic leaving a building), but that prevents us from getting out entirely when there is two feet of snow up against the door. The city was basically shut down yesterday as the snow didn't really stop until mid-morning. A quick timeline in pictures:
This was about 3:30 pm 1 February 2011
This was about seven pm 1 February 2011
This was about ten pm Tuesday 1 February 2011
This was about seven am Wednesday 2 February 2011.
Since they canceled UIC, as well as the cafe, that meant both Chris and I got to hang out and have a snow day! Something we thoroughly enjoyed. We got a surprise day together and it was great for both of us. We got to sleep in since we knew both works were closed. We didn't have to clean the house since we both work on keeping it clean during our hours we are here alone, and I didn't have to work weird hours at the cafe -- I told the pastor (who originally had ideas of us opening the cafe at 6 like normal) that I couldn't get out because my car was buried. When there is snow above the bumper of a car it doesn't go very far very well. I ventured out earlier than Chris did to take pictures of the aftermath. I also wanted to dig the car out as the plows had started getting some spots clear. I had a few guys come over and help dig me out -- really they just gave the car a big push to get it initially over all the snow. The driver's side door was pretty much completely covered, and the entire passenger's side was a drift of snow. After getting me out the guys and I went around and helped brush off a few more cars. It was nice to see the people here help each other out. So often it feels like we are very isolated, but this demonstrated something a bit different.
Later in the day both Chris and I ventured out. We walked around the complex a bit and wanted to see the roads -- wanting to know exactly how bad they were since he'd have to be on an early train this morning. We walked as far as they had plowed on the sidewalks, but ended up walking in the middle of the streets a bit. We also walked by the lake/pond across the street where I typically run and it was quite pretty. We ended our venture out by climbing a few of the snow piles at the edge of the complex. They are probably 15-20 feet tall and very fun. I was jealous of the children going down the snow piles on sleds, but we had fun going down our snow piles sitting down. Here are a few pictures of the various things we saw while out. The first picture is one of the fire hydrants. Most people ask us, "Why are there little flags on top of your hydrants?" the first time they visit us -- and this is why!
 | |
| Notice the snow piles |
 |
| ripples in the snow from the wind |
This morning when I took Chris to the train it reminded me a lot of driving around OK at Christmas in 2007 after the massive ice storm. The largest difference was that the trees were replaced with snow! The snow is also a lot taller than the tree piles, but the fortification feeling was the same. Most places only have one lane of traffic open because they can't get the snow out of the second one after plowing the first lane.
No comments:
Post a Comment