Chicago’s Snowpocalypse: The Blizzard of 2011 (video)

Two brave souls make their way down State Street in 70 mph wind and thundersnow. Two blocks over, miles of cars and people were trapped for 9 hrs on Lakeshore Blvd.

Some of our intrepid staffers braved the extreme elements last night to bring you these images. Constant 70 mph winds with ice and snow cut sharply against any exposed flesh, making it all but impossible to get the shots of the miles of gridlocked cars on Lakeshore our shooters intended. The following images were taken without flash, and though you can certainly see the accumulation, the wind and snow was blowing so quickly there was no way to capture it. Conversely, if you used your flash, all you would get were snowflakes filling up the preview screen. Perhaps the best solution would have been a timed exposure on a tripod, utilizing an initial flash, but the conditions were so severe, no one wanted to spend more than 10 minutes outside for any given time. Look below the gallery for video, which was even harder to keep in focus.

Too little, too late. Local papers warn of the impending storm.

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