Midwest Snowstorm

The school closings are crawling across the bottom of the TV screen already.

I hate snowstorms.

Yes, snow can be beautiful at first, when it falls gently and quietly and coats the bare branches of the trees. Winter Wonderland. Very nice.

But when it makes travel treacherous and power goes out and tree limbs break and bones break when people slip on ice, it's not pretty.

There is no romanticizing that.

From AP:

A storm that has dumped more than a foot of snow in the Rocky Mountains was causing problems for travelers as it spread across the Plains on Wednesday.

The main east-west route across Colorado, Interstate 70, closed for several hours from east of Denver to the Kansas line because of poor visibility due to blowing snow. Eastbound lanes remained closed Wednesday night. Smaller highways were also closed for hours in eastern Colorado.

Drivers in Iowa and Nebraska are being warned to be careful or stop driving altogether starting Wednesday evening as the Plains gets its first major winter storm of the season.

Light snow is also expected at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Thursday and strong winds could make visibility poor. That, combined with low clouds, could cause delays at the nation's second-busiest airport. National Weather Service forecaster Jamie Enderlen said.

...The storm is also expected to hit Wisconsin and Michigan, where up to a foot of snow was forecast in the north by Friday.

Last year was the best winter ever.