They say it was the third heaviest snowfall ever here in Chicago but I was here in Chicago for the second heaviest and it was nothing like this. All night the wind howled and roared through the bare branches of the trees, punctuated occasionally by peals of thunder or a flash of lightning. “Thunder-snow” they called it. It wasn’t a snowfall so much as a nearly solid cloud of roiling snow, lasting all night, dropping between two and three inches an hour.
Every couple of hours I’d go out and shovel what had fallen since my last effort. It’s a lot easier to move three inches of snow than it is six or more.
When we woke up the next morning we were quite literally snowed in. The doors were blocked by the fallen and drifted snow. It took a while to work my way out of the house.
Clearing the walk down to the sidewalk took about forty minutes. After doing it I cam in and rested for an hour or so. Clearing the sidewalk in front of our house took another forty minutes. Another hour or so of rest.
By that time a sort of party was forming in the neighborhood. My wife and I went out and started clearing the snow from the street around our cars. Neighbors plowed each other out, helped each other dig their cars out.
After an hour or so of heavy labor our cars were freed. The Sauganash Community Association emailed us that their plows would start plowing our side streets around 10:00am on Thursday. We’ll see.
Yesterday afternoon, while sitting by the pool atop this hotel in Hollywood, the terrible chill forced me to put shoes on. By the time the sun went down I was actually thinking I might need a sweater. Turned out no, I was fine.
Yeah, cleared the drive and walks three times but stopped at midnight. Woke up to another appx 18 inches. 50 mph winds and sideways snow will do that. Hope you have ample Advil.
Worst thing is when the plows come by and dump 3-4 feet in your drive, or snow in your car.
That said, it wasn’t that big a deal here. But when I lived in city the conjestion made it difficult. See: LSD.
“Worst thing is when the plows come by and dump 3-4 feet in your drive, or snow in your car.”
When I lived back east, I had a VW. I parked it on the street (semi-main drag) one night. Snowed. Heavily. Plow came along, buried the car under about 4-5 feet of snow. This was in early January. I left it there buried for about 3 months. When the thaw came, and enough of the snow had melted. I just went down, got in, turned the key, and drove out of my snow garage.
Keep an eye on your heart rate while doing all that work shoveling and be safe.
I was in Chicago celebrating New Year’s Eve in 98/99 and high-tailed it out of there before the storm hit. As I recall, friends who were still waiting for their flights were pretty impressed with how quickly that one got cleaned-up. Sounded like Chicago may have performed better than my city at the time. (Snow removal being the key to power in Chicago)
I think we only got about 12 inches down here, but it was preceded by about a half inch of ice. I hate the ice.
Speaking of the cold. Where I live now, New Mexico, the state is warning against natural gas shortages because of the severe and, for this place, unusual cold we’re in. They’ve closed the schools and university campuses early to conserve.
I oppose the Pickens Plan.
I’m on a road trip. No snow, but it’s 2 degrees outside in Las Cruces,NM. And motel wi-fi is down. Reduced to phone pecking until it warms up.
Great food in this town – spicier mex than orange county.
(Odds are sam is not in this town, right?)
Michael,
Enjoy your schadenfreude, we will certainly enjoy it next year when California drops into the pacific.
Here in Ohio, we got mainly got freezing rain. The leeward side of our cars, for example, were coated in about 3/4 inch of ice – the rest about 1/4 inch. This winter has generally sucked and reminds me I how thankful I am that I’m not here in Ohio permanently and will be gone within a year.
“The Sauganash Community Association emailed us that their plows would start plowing our side streets around 10:00am on Thursday. We’ll see.”
Clearly you need a more powerful Alderman.
(Odds are sam is not in this town, right?)
(right)
“Great food in this town – spicier mex than orange county.”
New Mexican mexican food is pretty much all based on the green chile, especially the Hatch chile, grown in Hatch, NM– which is just north of where you are now. Enjoy!
Andy:
Sorry I didn’t respond earlier, I was distracted by the beautiful girls in bikinis.
You’re a cruel, heartless son of bitch, Reynolds. (If you’ve got young kids along, take them to the Pig n’ Whistle on Hollywood Blvd for lunch. Great place. The new owners have restored it to all its old Hollywood glory.)
I agree that the secret to good New Mexican food is the ingredients, especially the chiles. It has been decades since I’ve been back there but many, many years ago the best food of that distinctive style was in Old Town in Albuquerque. Fond memories.
It’s something to see around here when the chile crop comes in. There are roasting stations all over the place. Folks show up with huge bags of the things and have them roasted, pounds and pounds and pounds. I was talking to a guy who manages a restaurant. I can’t recall how many thousands of pounds of green chiles his place uses in a year, but he did say he has to hire about 100 folks in the fall to come and prepare the roasted chiles for storage.
Suddenly wondering how soon I can find an excuse to go to New Mexico.
We have a movie industry here…