Snowlapalooza 2011

If you have a TV, a radio, or a Facebook friend from Chicago, you probably noticed we had a big blizzard this week. Snowpocalypse. Snowmageddon. SnOMG. Or, as we locals like to say, winter.

Last week, I happened to be in New York City when 19 inches of snow were dumped on the metro area overnight. Fortunately, it wasn't a day when I had to fly, so we enjoyed the snow for its beauty. The temps were in the upper 30s the next day, so the meltdown had already begun by the time I left.

This week, I cleverly headed to Washington, DC, for a conference with other nonprofit higher education leaders. I knew I'd get stuck in DC for an extra day, which was perfectly fine with me--another day to visit museums. I packed accordingly, and, sure enough, the snow came exactly as predicted. My neighbors kept me apprised of the electricity (fortunately, we didn't lose power), and they even fed my cats. Like the rest of you, I watched clips of the Weather Channel's reporter hearing the "thundersnow" claps, and felt grateful that I wasn't stuck on Lakeshore Drive.

For the first time in my 17 years at MWU, our President closed our Downers Grove campus for a day. Given the conditions, it was the right thing to do for everyone's safety. As always, our outstanding facilities and grounds crew spent the entire "day off" plowing our campus streets and making sure our on-campus students had power and were comfortable. When campus reopened on Thursday, the two feet of snow had been cleared and driving around campus was perfectly safe. Granted, there are several large snow drifts, but the streets and classrooms weren't affected.

Photo: Snow drifts partially cover the signage for the Administration Building on campus.

While I was pretty proud of myself for missing the entire blizzard of the century, I did have one concern: I had parked my car in the outside lot at O'Hare. I knew that was a bad idea on Monday when I dropped it off, but I was running late and I tend to get lost in the parking garage. So, I took my chances. When I was flying home on Thursday, I thought about just leaving my car at O'Hare for an extra day until I could bring a shovel to dig out. Or until the snow all melted. I was planning to beg someone from the parking division to help me. I was prepared to take a cab. But, just for fun, I decided to go to the lot and check out my car. Here is what I found:

Photo: My car at O'Hare--without a single snowflake!

My beautiful car was COMPLETELY CLEAN! Not a single snowflake was on it. Forevermore, I will think of this as the miracle of the Great Chicago Blizzard of 2011. The high winds and dry snow were very kind to me, and apparently my karma is excellent.

I hope all of you stayed safe, warm, and dry during this storm and all the rest still to come. And, to all my friends in Arizona, I know you have thin blood and no winter coats, but I really think you can survive one night of 27 degree temperatures without quite so much whining!