According to tweets, people have been told to abandon their cars and walk to safety because of the unusually high waves. Lake Shore Drive is closed, as is Sheridan Blvd in Evanston next to Northwestern University.
Several photos on Twitpic (like this one by @callmerashad) show a surreal scene of darkness, haze, snow, and cars illuminated by street lights and headlights, and snow - a lot of snow.
All thanks to a giant winter storm system that's literally attacking an area from Chicago to Dallas, where in suburban Arlington, Texas, Super Bowl XVL will be played this Sunday. Already, Super Bowl events are harder to get to in an already spread-out Super Bowl plan, because of the snow and ice.
But that's nothing compared to Chicago.
Mayor Richard J. Daley said the storm is "of historic magnitude, the likes of which we have not seen in decades."
Or, since January 26, 1967, when Chicago was buried under up two 23 inches of snow in two days.
I should know. I was six years old and in Chicago, where I was born. At the time, we lived at 7427 Wentworth. My parents owned a three story (what's called a "two-flat") building that still stands today in good condition. But that month was one where you just didn't go outside at all. Our giant backyard was buried in snow that came up to three feet in some areas. It was a bright white sight. You could not walk down the stairs to it without walking, er, wading, right into the snow. The best thing to do was to stay and home and watch the then-new Star Trek television show.
From the looks of these YouTube videos, watching Star Trek's a good idea now:
wow I was there in the summer and it's amazing how it looks like now
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