Have you ever been driving on the Indiana Toll Road when a heavy band of lake effect snow hits you? When you’re driving along at over 60+ mph and then within minutes your total visibility gets reduced to nothing. It’s enough to make you feel it’s time to get your affairs in order.
Yes, Mother nature can be a fickle bitch as it’ll be nice, sunny and clear (but of course cold) on the western shore of Lake Michigan where our fair city resides, but a hellish landscape (remember in Dante’s Inferno, the last concentric circle of hell is not fire, but Lucifer trapped in ice) in southwest Michigan and northwest Indiana.
This particular blizzard, is even keeping the referee from making his appointed rounds for tonight’s college basketball game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and St. John’s Red Storm.
And that’s a shame because Steve Lavin isn’t visiting DePaul this year. It’s his one visit to the Chicago area.
UPDATE: a statement from the Univeristy:
The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball game against St. John’s University at 8 p.m. (ET) Saturday (Jan. 8) at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center will be played as scheduled.
Fans are encouraged to use extreme caution before deciding whether to attend and should adhere to all weather and travel warnings issued by the City of South Bend and other local authorities. Those fans who are able to travel safely to this evening’s game are advised that the parking lots are open, but that space will be very limited due to the heavy snowfall in the Michiana area.
Fans who cannot attend this evening’s game due to the severe weather conditions can watch the game live on ESPNU and ESPN3.com or listen to the game on WSBT AM 960 in the South Bend area.
But for people who aren’t already round the Bend, commuting there doesn’t sound plausible.
from weather.com: TRAVEL THROUGH THIS AREA INCLUDING THE INDIANA TOLL ROAD AND INTERSTATE 94 WILL BE VERY SLOW GOING IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE.
A WINTER WEATHER EMERGENCY HAS BEEN DECLARED IN THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND WHERE OVER 2 FEET OF ACCUMULATION HAS BEEN REPORTED.
Yes this is the first such emergency for SB in over a decade. And the word “emergency” in my weather experience, is usually reserved for situations like tornadoes and hurricanes, so this must be bad. I’ve also seen reports of three feet of snow by morning.
And the National Weather Service update also mentioned that if you must go, bring extra food, water, flashlights, blankets…well, okay I guess you get the idea.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest webzine. He’s also a regular contributor to the Tribune’s Chicago Now network, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank