Hardly a Blizzard

Sure enough, at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, unwanted cold air started blowing into metro Chicago, taking temps down quickly into the I Hate Winter zone. It is our duty to complain about this, maybe even write letters to Congress in hopes that the border with Canada will be sealed airtight, at least from December through February.

Actually, this cold front came with some wind and some snow, but it hasn't risen to the level of blizzard. Don't think we've had a blizzard worthy of the name since January 2, 1999. Still, today's snowstorm has been a nice show. Sometimes I'll look out the window into the blowing snow, which is moving more or less horizontally.

This pic was taken the morning of January 3, 1999. Fortunately, the 2nd fell on a Saturday that year, so few had to venture out that day or on the 3rd, when it was clear but intensely cold. I was on our street in Westmont facing south. Not a spectacular shot of cars or houses buried, but certainly a good illustration of more than a foot and a half of snow on the ground.

I don't have any photographic record of the Blizzard of '96, which hit New England in early January of that year. I do remember the heavy snow, and the people out in their four-wheel drives, probably on the road trying to justify having paid so much for their vehicles.