Chicago's Snowiest Winter Since 1979 Depletes Budget

[marmar]

from Bloomberg:



Chicago's Snowiest Winter Since 1979 Depletes Budget (Update1)

By Joe Carroll

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Chicago's snowiest winter in three decades is taking a toll on Paul Matushek. He managed 15 downtown bicycle messengers in November, and now only five are willing to pedal through ice and drifts.

Matushek, a dispatcher for Don't Shoot the Messenger, isn't alone in coping with the 52.1 inches (132 centimeters) of snow dumped on Chicago from Dec. 1 to Feb. 29. Road salt is depleted, ice-clogged rivers stall barges with new loads, and the city has exhausted its snow-removal budget with weeks of winter to go.

Chicago hasn't been hit this hard since the record snows of 1978-79, when voters angry at the government's failure to clear streets booted Mayor Michael Bilandic out of office. Richard M. Daley, serving his 19th year as mayor and not facing re-election until 2011, isn't taking chances. He's spent $20 million dealing with the snow, $2 million over budget.

``Since '79, no one in their right mind in this city is going to run low on plows,'' said Tom Allen, an alderman and chairman of the City Council's Transportation and Public Way Committee.

Snow has fallen on Chicago four of every seven days since Dec. 1, according to the National Weather Service. The city used 90 percent of its 390,000 tons of stored salt, and had to buy an additional 250,000 tons to rebuild the stockpile, said Matt Smith, a spokesman for the Department of Streets and Sanitation.

``People need to be able to get through the streets,'' said Bennie Currie, a Daley spokesman. He declined to say how memories of 1979 may be affecting his boss's proactive approach. ``I'm not a historian,'' he said. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aOGKVKRgSWTY&refer=home

[elleng]

1. I moved from Chicago in '78, partly because it was so snowy!

Dirty clumps of snow still on ground when I drove out in March, I guess before the last storm cited here, end of march. But I did not leave BECAUSE of the weather; I decided to seek different professional opportunities in DC!

http://www.sws.uiuc.edu/pubdoc/RI/ISWSRI-88.pdf

[CookCountyResident]

3. Then there are those of us who remember 1967.

We got a new puppy the same day it snowed 27 inches.

What were we thinking?!!! :-)

We had to go out in the backyard and dig out an area to try to housebreak the reluctant puppydog.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Yep!

My dad had to drive the truck all day in that. 75,000# of truck in 2" per hour snowfall. Took him 20 hours to run his route that day!
The Professor

[CookCountyResident]

2. Maybe I'm crazy....

but I love the snow!

Plus, yesterday, there were winds coming out of the NE which were creating an unbelievable chop of waves on the Lake Michigan shore.

[elleng]

4. I love the snow too, CCR,

and I loved Chicago! Nothing crazy about it! I arrived in Hyde Park after college graduation in '66, and lived there until '78.

Where in Cook County are you?

[CookCountyResident]

8. Northern suburbs

I live in a northern suburb - one of the ones where people have a tendency to cross over to Lake County to buy stuff because of the new Sales Tax increase.

[orleans]

5. i love the snow too. always have. grew up in the burbs of chgo

and have a pic. of me standing on a mountain of snow at the end of our driveway from the 67 storm.

i was a child--it was absolute heaven!

it still is. i love going out for walks when it's snowing.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. OK Then! You're Crazy

Certifiably so! :evilgrin: I don't live in Cook County, but pretty darned close. I cannot WAIT for winter to end.
The Professor

[Mugu]

15. Hear, Hear. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

6. Oh, Geez, I remember '79. What a fucking mess THAT was. nt

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

7. Yeah, '79' was a mess. I remember getting up

and listening to the radio and the announcer declaring that the wind chill factor was only at -40 degrees F instead of -60.

My grandmother died in February that year and the cemetery didn't get her into the ground until May. The ground was frozen solid to about 8 or 9 feet down.

The thing that I always wondered about was what were Bilandic and his buddies in City Hall thinking. We had a series of horrible winters starting in 1976-1977 but they still didn't get
that we needed more snowplows, the parking ban from Dec 1 to April 1 and so on.

Of course Jane Byrne was an improvement over Bilandic. :sarcasm: The only difference between the two of them was that she was from the North Side and Bilandic was from the South Side.

[CookCountyResident]

10. I was in Chambana during 1979.

Going to college at Univ. of Illinois and freezing my butt off in between classes.

I remember the campus custodial crew bringing out what we not-so-fondly called "the Death Machines" which were the John Deere riding lawnmowers converted to snow manipulators. Except they didn't use small snowplow blades to clear the sidewalks. Instead they mounted these spinning wire brushes that were supposed to wipe off the snow down to the concrete, but because the cold was so bad, all these machines did was to polish the ice!

There were more kids on crutches that year than ever before due to the broken bones sustained from "travelling too fast for conditions" between classes!!!

[CookCountyResident]

9. The upside to all this....

other than the potential flooding of the Des Plaines River (and whoever builds close to that is crazy...) is that the snowcover does indeed help trees especially evergreens from "winter burn".

Also the water table is replenished and more fresh water ends up going back into Lake Michigan.

[Tinksrival]

13. This has been an odd winter

We have had a weird cycle of snow-rain-snow, freeze-thaw-freeze which has played havoc on the pavement. We had thunder storms and flooding in Jan. and February on top of the snow cycle. My sump pump has never gone off in February before.

[KharmaTrain]

14. Sheesh...This Wasn't THAT Bad...

I, too remember, the Great Snow of '67...running with my sled to the only open Jewel (I think the staff was snowed in) and loading up on groceries. Then the multiple snows of '79...when the mounds and drifts got so high you could climb onto your roof and parking spaces vanished for months on end.

Right now I see some lawn poking through...and hopefully a good amount of what's left will be on its way down the Mississippi by next week. The good thing is there wasn't a lot that fell at one time or that whatever that did fall melted before the next round hit. I suspect this is a good thing for the farmers as the ground table should be in real good shape this growing season.

Fortuantely the majority of this stuff is past...but I do remember an April Fools snowstorm that caught the city by surprise. For the most part the lessons of '79 were learned...all this snow, while a pain in the ass, didn't really slow anyone down. I was bothered more by the cold...and I'm about to head for some warm weather.

[LSK]

16. we needed this to restore lake levels

The snow has not bothered me much and most of it is melted now.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Rain Would Have Done That!

I am ok with getting the right amount of precipitation. Gotta have that!

But, i prefer the liquid form.
The Professor

[LSK]

18. actually there is a difference

Rain water evaporates into the air while snow melt seeps into the ground around replenishing the water tables.

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=88791