I went to Jewel (a major chain of grocery stores in the Chicagoland area, they’re owned by some major corporation starting with an A, forget what it is now) the day before and the shelves were picked pretty clean.
Anyway, I wanted to clarify, the NEWS reports what they think the total accumulation is. I report what I had to shovel. As anyone who has to shovel snow knows implicitely, in high winds, the snow on the roof falls on the driveway (and lawn, but no one shovels that) and adds to what you have to shovel. If your neighborhood is poorly designed for snow (as many are, since most architects and village planners do not consider this) you can get a lot of snow that should be your neighbors because it blows onto your drive. Then, of course, is the accumulation of snow plowed onto your drive from the snowplows doing the streets.
I only measured what was pretty sheltered areas of snow. Areas where the cars blocked some, the overhand of the roof blocked some, etc. I got 30 to 35 inches of snow in total accumulation. That is, in the “low” parts. Some of the drifts were in excess of 36 inches (yard stick height) and I had to try with my roller-ruler. Assuming it went straight and did not bend, some areas were in excess of 40 inches.
No snowblower in the area I have ever seen has a chute that high, so using it would be blowing the snow right into a wall and back down, thus, useless. What I ended up doing is clearing a 5’ square area, then shoveling the top down into the “hole” and blowing it out and over the newly lowered wall for a 3 car driveway. ( I did 2 of 3 cars, still need to find my garbage toters that are completely buried under snow in the 3rd car slot.)