Greg Bales

Blizzard

Even though much of Iowa City has been brought to a standstill by last night’s blizzard—all schools and many businesses are closed, and everyone will be digging out from under the snow for the rest of the day—I suspect that we made it through the storm without too much trouble.¹ These are some of the pictures I took last night and this morning.

The flash from my camera actually makes the visibility seem worse than it was. (If you look closely, you can just see my neighbor’s car at the right of the picture.) When I was walking Newton about 30 minutes prior to taking this picture, I could see 50–100 feet ahead. What I saw, however, I saw only in brief glances: the wind was so strong, my eyes were burned if I looked ahead for too long.

The snowdrift is as deep as my waist. The rest of the snow, as deep as my knees. Newton didn’t know what to do but jump through it. He grew tired of that, and fast.

Looking out from our front door at 7 o’clock this morning, the snow had drifted up to the bottom of the door. Around back, it was well above the stoop.

A picture of the front door from the kitchen window.

¹ According to the Press-Citizen, it will probably end up having been one of the area’s worst snowstorms on record.