Snow, Snow Everywhere

Earlier today I spoke with my cousin down in suburban Chicago. Our conversation meandered from her impending wedding to the weather. She was surprised to hear that we have had the snowiest winter in Madison's history. We got a big push from last week's storm which let loose 13.3 inches of the white stuff. This was Madison's second biggest storm with the snowiest having been on 3 December 1990 when we got 17.1 inches.

Anyone remember that one? I was a freshman at UW living in Witte Hall. When the announcement came over the PA system, there was much rejoicing. A group of us grabbed a fellow student from Hong Kong who had never experienced snow before and headed outside for a snowball fight. This revelry eventually spilled onto the street in front of Ogg (which still sucks) & Sellery. Any car that dared traverse that stretch of University Avenue was greeted with a barrage of snowballs from dozens of college kids, many of us not sober. Eventually cars turning onto University from Park Street started reversing once they saw what was happening. And woe betide the Women's Transit authority safe ride car that entered our realm. The poor co-ed in that car. She tried to escape potential muggers and rapists only to happen upon a horde of dormrats engaged in a bit of mayhem. One driver stopped and got out of his car and began throwing snowballs back in fun when someone walked up behind him, leaned into the car, and put it in gear. It took the police a while to get there but arrive they did.

While that was a doozy of a snowstorm, I've seen worse. The winter of 1978/79 was bad in Madison but worse in Chicago where I was a wee lad. I still recall the Blizzard of 1979 when the city was blasted one weekend.



The Blizzard of 1979 started on Friday night January 12 and lasted until 2 a.m. Sunday January 14. On top of 7-10 inches left over from a New Year's Eve storm, 20.3 inches of new snow fell--setting a record for total snow on the ground… And by the end of January, there was an accumulation of more than 47" on the ground, most of which was compacted ice!

What a glorious weekend of fun in the snow that was. Here is a shot of my winter wonderland.



Of course, I didn't have to shovel and, instead just had fun while nearby the El struggled and much of the city was paralyzed. About a month and a half later, Mayor Bilandic lost his bid for re-election in the primary. Locals will tell you that they were all disgruntled over the city's handling of the blizzard when walked in the voting booth and pulled the lever for Jane Byrne.

We should be able to beat Chicago's total from that season of 88.4 inches. 100" here we come!