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| Wendell shoveling in a different snowstorm! |
It has been an interesting start to 2011. Who would have thought we would miss 3 days of school in a row? Two for snow and one for cold? It was -27 deg with -46 deg windchill....yikes! Wendell is stuck in the Blizzard of the Century in Milwaukee. He made it there safely, although he was down to 30 mph at one point. He unloaded and is waiting at the plant for conditions to improve. So, I am left at home to make sure the shower doesn't freeze (darn old house) and that the fire is stoked (it makes for nice warm floors). Ceci is watching ET and I am thinking about all of the stuff I should be doing. So, we are all glad to be safe on this cold winter day. I included a story about the weather that was in the Aberdeen paper......we will remember this one! Take care, one and all!
Colossal storm roars across nation’s heartland
Paralizing punch of ice, snow stretches from Texas to Maine
BY MICHAEL TARM
Associated Press
CHICAGO — A winter weather colossus roared into the nation’s heartland Tuesday, laying down a paralyzing punch of dangerous ice and whiteout snow that served notice from Texas to Maine that the storm billed as the worst in decades could live up to the hype.
Ice-covered streets were deserted in Super Bowl host city Dallas.
Whiteouts shut down Oklahoma City and Tulsa.
And more was on the way. Chicago expected 2 feet of snow, Indianapolis an inch of ice, and the Northeast still more ice and snow in what’s shaping up to be a record winter for the region.
The system that stretched more than 2,000 miles across a third of the country promised to leave in its aftermath a chilly cloak of teeth-chattering cold, with temperatures in the single digits or lower.
Winds topped 60 mph in Texas. The newspaper in Tulsa, Okla., canceled its print edition for the first time in more than a century. In Chicago, public schools called a snow day for the first time in 12 years, and both major airports gave up on flying until at least this afternoon.
The storm also led Chicago officials to close the city’s busy and iconic Lake Shore Drive while crews tried to plow snow Tuesday night. City officials said the move was temporary but that they could have to close it again if high winds push 25-foot waves from nearby Lake Michigan onto the roadway.
Cities across middle America shut down hours ahead of the snow. Scores of schools, colleges and government offices canceled activities or decided not to open at all. Large sections of busy Midwest interstates were closed, and 9,000 flights had been canceled across the nation.
In Missouri, more than a foot of snow had fallen by midday, with no end in sight. For the first time in history, the state of Missouri shut down Interstate 70 between St. Louis and Kansas City due to a winter storm.
‘‘The roads are just pure white. There’s no traffic. Nothing,’’ said Kristi Strait, who was working at Clinton Discount Building Materials in Clinton, Mo.
Others didn’t let the weather keep them from work. The bakery Chez Monet in downtown Jefferson City was open, adding hot oatmeal for chilled customers. Owner Joan Fairfax said she road to work without trouble. She wasn’t sure about her ride home, but said she could walk if necessary.
‘‘I have never missed a day of work because of weather in 20 years,’’ said Fairfax, 54.
The leading edge of the storm slammed first into Texas and Oklahoma after moving out of the Rockies. The blizzard halted production of the print edition of today’s Tulsa World, marking the first time in the paper’s nearly 106-year history that is has not published an edition.
Ice-coated roads were nearly empty in Dallas, where the few motorists who braved the unfamiliar terrain slowed to a crawl as they passed jack-knifed tractor-trailers on slick highways. The NFL managed to stick to its Super Bowl schedule, holding media activities at Cowboys Stadium in suburban Arlington as planned.
Green Bay Packers fans Dieter Sturm and Mark Madson postponed plans to drive from Wisconsin to the Super Bowl in a Cadillac convertible, but said they planned to leave this morning if possible.
‘‘We love driving in the snow,’’ said Sturm, who works making snow for movies and commercials.
‘‘We love having the snow fall on top of us. We’re from Wisconsin. We can handle that without a problem. The icy roads are another story.’’
The pair said they have personal heating systems, including clothes dryer hoses laced inside their jackets that rest beneath their chins to keep their “faces from freezing solid,’’ Sturm said.
