The Windy City living up to its name

Bad hair day

The Windy City is certainly living up to its name today.  Yowsers!  WGN's Tom Skilling says our winds our comparable to a category 3 hurricane.  It's so windy, I just found a leaf in my bra after being outside.  No joke!  I couldn't figure out why I was so itchy.

Forecasters were calling for this to be the worst storm in a decade.  Then they upped it to 70 years.  It's bad, but it doesn't seem earth-shattering.  In preparation for this storm, Chicagoans were asked to take everything off of their balconies.  Since we're short on space, many people's balconies become essentially a storage area.  You'll see suitcases, kids toys, all types of furniture, and of course, grills.  Forecasters were worried about these objects becoming flying debris.  Scary!

Next Door Neighbors

I've said before I have an irrational fear of getting hit by something falling from a building.  This fear was increased when a girlfriend's glass-top table went flying over her 47th story balcony.  Yikes!  On the news this morning, they showed video of a bad storm in 2002.  Window washing equipment plunged 40-feet off of the Hancock building, killing 3 women in cars below.  That incident is what prompted today's warning of getting everything off of balconies, and construction companies were told to put away all their equipment.

So to all those people whose balconies were not cleaned off (ex: most of my neighbors)...just remember, we are a sue-happy country.  If your BBQ grill falls on me?  If I live, I'm totally taking you to the cleaners.