After

OK, so after looks a lot like During, mostly because the additional 5 or 6 hours of storm didn't actually happen.



This is the only window that we have on the south side of the house. Because the wind was mostly from the north northeast, this side of the house got a lot more snow than the windward side did.



The dog trying to swim through the snow. He hasn't been able to run around in the yard since Tuesday afternoon. I shoveled out a couple of paths for him so that he could at least get off the patio to do his business.



Husband got the sidewalk next to the house shoveled off (it's on the south side of the garage, which is again why so much snow.) It feels like going through a tunnel.



Daughter has been making tunnels and snow caves. This is her just outside the living room window. She's close to 5 feet tall, and you can see the snow is up to the top of her chest.



I think this will be one of the more memorable Groundhog Days that I'll ever have.

During

It started snowing at 2:00 yesterday afternoon. We got at least an inch every hour, aand because of the 40-50 mph winds, there are drifts everywhere.



That's Husband trying to get the sidewalk shoveled out so we can get to the garage and the snowblower.



Murray (that's the snowblower) is my new hero. He's a little guy, but he's been out there taking the 8 inches out of our driveway like a trooper.



Our street hasn't been plowed since 7:00 last night. Our neighbor across the street works for our Park District, and he's been on plow duty. He got up very early this morning and had to walk out to the main street because there's no way anything short of a snowcat is getting up or down our street.



The fence in the backyard is four feet tall.

Snow's supposed to keep coming down for 5 or 6 more hours, so we'll see how this all ends up.

The Before

As you are probably aware, I live in the Chicagoland area. They have been telling us for the last week or so that a big storm is headed our way. As time has gone by the meteorologists have been predicting worse and worse weather for us. As of this morning we are expecting the worst storm the area has seen since 1967, with the blizzard watches having been upgraded to blizzard warnings.

I thought it might be interesting to have some before and after pictures to record this event, so here is what our neighborhood looks like today.












Stay tuned for updates as the snowpocalypse hits us this afternoon and evening.