Wow! We’re getting walloped in a big way here in Chicago. It’s been 12 years since the last one like this. Luckily, all my gigs/work got cancelled and I got home just in time. I’ve been looking at abandoned cars on Lake Shore Drive and Hyde Park Boulevard all of last night and this morning.

This snowplow (!) and these cars have been stuck sine at least 9 pm last night (photo taken at 8 am). This is after seeing people outside trying to shovel.

The wind is so powerful at this intersection that I was barely able to keep upright when walking home from the bus last night. About 2 hours after I got home, I saw a bus get stuck as well as numerous cars right at this intersection. Finally, a few cars got stuck for good.

I can’t get a good shot of Lake Shore Drive (just outside my window) due to the snow, but I saw the tops of many abandoned cars in the northbound lanes.

More scenes:

Lake Shore Drive during a break in the snow:

You can’t see the abandoned cars in this photo, but they’re there. The reason or the bald patches in the park and some roads despite the 18 inches of snow (so far) is due to the 60 mph winds. This is leading to some significant drifting down here.

If you look closely, you can see two cars that have spun out and been abandoned over the night. It’s calm up here in the air, but the wind is amazingly punishing out there, making it almost impossible for any vehicle to move on the streets outside my building:

The snow just started picking up again, burying that snowplow and taking visibility way down:

Luckily, these two guys (and my wife) are up here with me, and we’re enjoying a relaxing snow day. They don’t seem to care too much about the storm:

Hopefully this storm will pass and like can go back to a quasi-normal state tomorrow.