Welcome, Spring

I have spent the last several days walking around, doing errands, wrapping up my class, just enjoying the weather. The runners are wearing fewer layers, skirts are getting shorter, coats are getting left at home.  The sun is shining. Two boats are in the harbor.

Spring is on its way at last.

Thunder Snow

I'd never heard of a snow thunderstorm before last night.  But that's what we had.  Lots of thunder, lots of lightning visible once the whiteout broke.  I guess nature never runs out of surprises to throw at us.

It's still snowing off and on.  The cable came back on, finally, though, and my internet access is back. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

White Powder

I'm sitting in my apartment off Lake Michigan in Chicago, looking out my window at ... nothing.  It's just a cloud of white.  The snow is coming down so hard that I can't see the building across the street.  In fact, I can't see the street.

I looked at the Weather Channel app on my iPhone this morning and there was a lakefront flood warning.  This is a little creepy under the best of circumstances (Lake Shore Drive is one of the major traffic arteries in the city); it's really freaky when the lake is frozen over for the first hundred yards or so.  There is this loud craching noise I hear every few minutes or so.  At first I thought it was snow plows, but I heard it too much for that.  My latest theory is that it's the wind hittting the ventilation system shafts or something similar.  At least I hope that's what it is, because the only other explanation that comes to mind is that it's pieces of buildings flying off in the wind.