Chicago Blizzard 2011

Chicago Blizzard 2011!

On Tuesday, February 1, a blizzard warning was put into effect for the state of Illinois. By 3pm that day, my company released their employee's. They wanted to give us the opportunity to get home before the brunt of the storm hit. Luckily my commute home was simple, and had no problems. The Chicago Transit Authority takes great care to maintain safety during bad weather. Below, I'm waiting inside the train station for my bus to take me home. This was around 5:45pm. You can see the storm beginning to blow outside.

A view of my bus stop as I walk home. It was hard to get a focused picture, since the wind was blowing so much.

I was trying to get a pic of myself, just as a gust of wind hit my face. This picture makes me laugh. :)

Once I made it home, we were safe and warm inside. Our new apartment is very sturdy with new window, and a warm heater. We knew the wind was blowing, but couldn't hear it.

A view from our living room windows at 6pm Tuesday evening.

7:30pm

A view from our bedroom window at 8:30pm.





Around 9pm, we noticed some neighbors trying to park their car, and having to dig out a space.



But, we were happy, safe and warm inside!


With the dogs all snuggled up.

10pm from the living room window.

10am, February 2. Still snowing big fluffy flakes, with significantly less wind.

But the storm had made it impossible to commute, so they city had a snow day off! The schools were closed for the first time in 12 years!

You can see the snow drifts that had collected through the evening.

I had on all my winter gear to take the dogs out for their walk. They had their coats on too.

A view of the walkway beside our apartment. Our landlord was great and had shoveled all ready that morning. Look at the drift along the fence!



By 1pm, the sun had come out, and the snow had stopped. Ruben headed out to start shoveling out the cars.

He's so wonderful!!! By the time I got out there, he had cleared out my car, and was in process of clearing his jeep.

He definitly deserved a kiss!

In the process he created this 5 foot pile!

I decided it was my turn to help, so I took over the shovel and got in there. It was actually a lot of fun, and great exercise. Not only that, but the neighbors were out in full force doing the same work. Eventually we worked together to clear out the cars and cleared parking spaces.



Here, I am working with a senior in high school, Nolan, and a new neighbor, Mike.





The dogs were having a blast, checking out all the fresh new snow.

Here Ruben is helping some more neighbors down the street.

There weren't many cars driving, so we let the dogs off the leash and let them tour the block. They had fun mingling with the neighbors.

Here Nikon is saying hello to his buddy, Lenny. Lenny takes care of the dogs when we leave town.

Canon was glad to see him too!

Here Nikon is trying to cross the street to say hi to Jackie, a junior high student from the neighborhood.

A view of my neighbors working to clear their spaces. The consensus was that the weather would be getting to below freezing by night fall. We needed to clear the snow before it froze to the cars and was impossible to move.

We really enjoyed our snow day off. However, the opera house is in the middle of producing Lohengrin, which opens February 11. The show must go on, and so I'm in the office today. The city of Chicago takes snow clearing very seriously, especially for the downtown area. So, as you can see, the roads and sidewalks were pretty clear.

This storm was quite an experience! Mother nature is amazing, and it's nice to stop and take a moment to appreciate the power of weather! (From the safety of my warm apartment, of course!) I know that the storm trailed from Texas to Illinois, and that my Texas family is dealing with snowy, cold conditions. Please be safe, and warm! Much love to you all!