Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2011

Well it's been a pretty interesting couple of days. A huge weather system passed over much of the US and dropped about 20 inches of snow on Chicago, which is apparently the third heaviest single snowfall on record for Chicago. The blizzard had already started by the time I left work on Tuesday evening; luckily for me, based on experiences in previous snowfalls, I decided to forgo my usual route home on the bus, take a slightly longer walk to the 'L' station, and take the train. This proved to be a very good decision; I got home without incident, but had I caught the bus I would have joined the thousands who were stuck for 6–12 hours on Lake Shore Drive. Waking up on Wednesday morning it quickly became clear that I wasn't going to get to work; Lake Shore Drive was still closed, and the CTA seemed to be struggling. This meant that I got the chance to take a walk and get some photos: Marine Drive was still basically impassable by late morning: Snow ploughs were working hard to clear Lake Shore Drive, but the wind was undoing their hard work within minutes: Visibility at the lake front was poor: As the day wore on conditions improved. I went out again in the afternoon with Jan and Tim, and I was able to get some nice shots: A have posted a gallery of my snow day photographs on flickr here. I still have a few more photos to process and upload, so check back there in a few days.

Icy lakeshore


Icy lakeshore, originally uploaded by jatherton.

A couple of warmer days and some rain teamed up to mean that we started 2011 in Chicago without any snow on the ground (appart from a few places where it was piled up). Lake Michigan is mostly free of ice at the moment too. This shot was taken on the lake shore at Fullerton Avenue. The scene is back-lit by the lights of the Chicago skyline (which looks a bit like this from here). The long exposure gives the lake a slightly mist like appearance, as the waves washed around the stones and posts.