Why do people insist on getting in their cars today?

Lake Shore Drive rescue drama continues - chicagotribune.com

Lake Shore Drive rescue drama continues - chicagotribune.com

Snow Day for D!

The above video is from last night before we went to bed.  We're hearing on the news that some people were just rescued from Lake Shore Drive after being trapped in their cars all night.  It's still coming down.  Some places are mostly free of the snow -- other places have drifts as tall as me.  Yours truly will NOT be going in today.  Poor P is going to try to go in.  Fergie doesn't know what to do.  She pooped on the back steps (which are outside) this morning.

Here are some photos from this morning.  These are hard to see, but this is our parking lot.  If you were actually standing there, you'd see the drifts were nearly as tall as my car.  No one's driving today!  The news highway cams show completely empty highways.

This is our neighbor's backyard.  Those drifts in the corner are as tall as me.

An updated window shot.  See the buried car?

We're supposed to get a minimum of 14 inches.  They showed a radar image of the skies over Chicago -- no planes.  Hope you don't get this much snow, NY family!

Yes, that is her real name. No, she did not make it up for this storm.

Thundersnow!

Unless you're very familiar with our building, this probably won't mean much to you.  That is the drifting snow against our building's main door.  You can't tell from this picture, but the snow is sloped from the fence to the door!  I took poor wee Fergie out and the drifts are taller than her!  Also, we just heard that Lakeshore Drive is closed.  

Tonight was also the first time I saw/heard thundersnow!  You can't really hear the thunder in this clip, but you can see the lightning in the sky.  Crazy.  You probably would have been able to hear the thunder but for P's very "interesting" phone conversation (and the burp you hear very early in).

"I'm gonna move to Florida soon!"

I know it's hard to see, but the wind is what's the worst.  Fergie is very glad to be inside, I tell you what.

It begins...

How could you NOT have heard?  One-third of the country will experience severe weather over the next few days.  Chicago appears to be right in the middle of it.  Snow falling at a rate of 1-3 inches per hour, 14-18 foot waves off the lake (some of which are expected to crash into Lakeshore Drive), 30-40 mph wind gusts... in other words, a mess.  A smaller system moved through last night with a couple of inches falling.  Fergie (who looks remarkably like Dracula in this photo) is ready for it.  OK, that's not true at all.  With 12-20 inches of snow expected, she's going to hate it.  But she's at least dressed for the occasion.  

This is what the snow looked like last night.  See the tiny Fergie and P in the second picture?  He took her out before bed while I sat inside, all warm and toasty.  

Here's what it looks like now.  The snow is just starting, but you should be able to tell how much harder it's snowing.  And this, ladies and gents, is apparently nothing. 

I was let out of work early in anticipation of the bad weather, so I will be coming to you throughout the storm with updates.  Keep checking back!

P.S. -- Fergie has real bad gas.

Arctic Cold

They are not kidding.  We were mid-60s Friday, and 50s through the weekend.  This morning at 3:30am, we hit our high for today: 23.  Tomorrow's high: ZERO.  And that doesn't factor in wind-chill. Ah, Colorado and her schizophrenic weather!

I had quite a time of it trying to scrape the thick layer of ice from my windshield this morning.  That took about 20 minutes and I probably should have tried to get more of the ice off before I got on the highway, but I arrived safely!  Really, I should have taken the bus.

They are also saying my commute home should be a doozy...