Snowstorm! Chicago's Wicked Weather

Winter is a jovial time of year for most; it's the season of multicolored blinking lights, blissful jingles and excessive shopping. But if you've ever had to stand on the bus stop during a blustery Chicago winter or sit in traffic during a freak rush hour Chicago snowstorm, you'll know precisely why a lot of us Chicagoan's, clench our teeth and tolerate the windy city during this time of year.

Most of us continue to go about our daily affairs during a snowstorm, while digging our cars and walkways out of a pile of slush, amidst sore backs and frost-bitten limbs. We brave the below zero wind gusts that thrust us about so effortlessly that sometimes, we've been caught in action on the six o' clock news holding on to a light pole or a mailbox to keep ourselves from going airborne. If you're even attempting to make it to your destination upright as you walk through downtown Chicago in the dead of winter, bless your heart.

During an especially cruel snow season, even a Chicago snowstorm vet is ill-prepared to tango with old man winter in blizzard mode.

For example, in January of 1999, a snowstorm that was rated the second worst of the 20th century by the National Weather Service blew into Chicago.

The snowstorm whaled on Chicagoland, dumping 22 inches of snow; the wind-chill, at minus 20 degrees or lower froze power lines and wiped out electricity.

Due to the snowstorm, Lake Shore Drive was shut down temporarily and O'hare and Midway airports canceled most of their flights. The Chicago Transit Authority and Metra service were brought to a standstill and some businesses and schools had to take a time-out.

Loss of Life

During the snowstorm of 1999, which lasted over a period of three days throughout the Midwest, seventy-three people died. Thirty-two deaths alone were from heart attacks and over exertion due to shoveling snow. Two people actually froze to death.