Rata's Rants: Chicago Blizzard! (Slash Snowpocalypse, slash Snowmaggedon)

On February 1st-2nd we had what's being called the third worst blizzard in Chicago's history. Classes were cancelled for two days (the first time since 1999) as snowplows worked to clear what was on average 19 1/2 inches of snow.

So, I went out on the 2nd and took pictures!

Here is the building I work in at the University of Chicago. You can't tell, but in front of it there is usually a big pond. Here, it just looks like a field of snow.

The wind the night before had also done crazy things to the snow, piling it up on one side of the street until it was halfway up the side of a building, and scouring all but half an inch away from the other side of the street. It left cool shapes around objects:

And snow dunes:

There were a dozen people out on my block shoveling once the storm finally cleared up. Notably, this guy in a t-shirt:

(click on the pictures if you want to see them larger)

They'd clearly been working a while, but weren't totally done with the job:

My apartment is on the Northeast corner of the street, and we had barely any snow on our grass or sidewalk to shovel.

In the parking lot across the street from my apartment, people were putting the pile of snow they'd managed to plow to good use sledding.

Later my friends Colin and Laura and I decided to walk out to Lake Michigan to see what had happened out there.

The wind had definitely been fiercer near the lake.

Kids had been making very good use of the snow dunes to make snow caves.

Walking on the snow dunes was probably the most fun part of the whole walk.

To get out to the lake we could actually cross Lake Shore Drive at any point. No crossing under in the tunnel to avoid the 45-60mph traffic for us! It was very post-apocalyptic, with all the pedestrians walking on the empty road.