The Blizzard of '11

Today the entire Midwest is taking a Snow Day. Just about everything between Des Moines and Chicago is at a standstill.

Last night, eastern Iowa was pounded by the fierce blizzard sweeping toward the Great Lakes region. Though the official Iowa City snow accumulation total at the airport was 10 inches, I think the P-C gave a more accurate range of 12-15 inches. In my parents’ backyard, where sustained gusts sculpted wavy drifts, it was more like three feet.

Do I miss California? Hell no. This is the kind of shit I live for and learned is necessary for sanity. A brutal and humbling storm like this is one of the things that keeps us Midwesterners mentally and emotionally balanced; the seasonal swings in extreme weather give us that evenhanded approach to life. We know the wrath of Mother Nature. We sit inside and let her run her course, then clean the mess afterward and continue with our lives. Life goes on. Spring will come, and we will enjoy the daisies when they rise once again from the soil.

The “Blizzard of ‘11” is probably the first of its kind I have ever seen, and it probably brought the most snow I have ever seen. Though it gets very cold in Iowa City, it is usually spared the heaviest snowfall totals, like the stuff seen farther north in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Even northern Iowa, above US Highway 20, gets more snow than we do. I thought we received over two feet once when I was in seventh grade (I even remember the date: January 26, 1996), but that memory does not gel with the official records. Last night I watched in wonder as the storm howled; the streetlights revealed a blur of snowflakes being whipped by the wind. Around 11 pm, I saw three teenagers walk north on First Avenue with snow sleds. (By that time, the sidewalks were impassable.) For one, the wind was too much. Making matters worse was his sled, which he held at the end of a rope. The sled whipped in the wind behind him, pulling him back. Step by step, though, he slowly pushed his way through it. He was the perfect personification of the Midwestern mentality.

The good news today is that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow. Apparently, an early spring is on the way.