Blizzard Warning!

Though travel was definitely not recommended Tuesday evening, February 1, 2011, I was out with my camera. This was the scene amid blizzard conditions on a deserted C Avenue NE at its intersection with Boyson Road in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 9:45 PM. Wind gusts of from 30-40 mph produced nearly horizontal snow and significant drifting. In this image looking south, wind-driven snow blows directly overhead. Snow began to fall in Cedar Rapids early Tuesday afternoon and continued until Wednesday morning. High winds made accumulation measurements difficult, but Cedar Rapids received about 13 inches of snow. Further east, Chicago was hit with just over 20 inches, making it the third-worst storm in the city's modern history. The massive winter storm system of which this local event was part of, stretched from the states of Oklahoma and Texas in the west to the New England coast in the east.