The Blizzard of 2015: winners and losers
By now, paths have been carved through the mountains of snow left behind by the Blizzard of 2015.
But there's still a lot of snow to deal with.
The official snow total at O'Hare International Airport was 19.3 inches, making Sunday's Super Bowl blizzard the fifth-largest snowstorm in Chicago history and rivaling monster storms like the 21.2 inches that fell four years ago Monday.
Around the suburbs, Sunday's snowfall totals ranged from 10.4 inches in Elgin to 22 inches in Lincolnshire, according to the National Weather Service.
Just like the Super Bowl, this storm had winners and losers.
Losers
Super Bowl party hosts.
The weather ruined many Super Bowl parties, leaving hosts with refrigerators full of uneaten food. Carrie Knapik invited 20 people to her party in Maple Park, planning, cooking and spending Sunday afternoon cleaning her house and shoveling her driveway for her guests.
"People started dropping like flies at 4 p.m. Finally, we just decided to cancel it. I was mad, but not at anybody. I was mad at Mother Nature," she said. "We said, 'Well, at least the house is clean.' My fiance and I will be eating pulled pork sandwiches every day this week."
Small dogs.
They're forced to do their business in snow drifts bigger than themselves. Some dog owners shoveled paths for their dogs, or walked them in the street since the sidewalk snow was too deep. Some dogs owners got the "Are you kidding me?" looks from pets when they opened the door mid-blizzard.
Cook County jail inmates.
The jail in Chicago was on lockdown Monday because 36 percent of the staff hadn't reported to work in the past 24 hours, according to Sheriff Tom Dart. About 110 officers on the Sunday night and Monday morning shift were mandated to work overtime to compensate for the staff shortage.
Anyone who shoveled.
It took a few rounds of heavy shoveling or snowblowing to clear it all, including that heavy wall of snow at the end of the driveway left by the plows.
Movie theaters.
AMC Theatres closed some of its suburban theaters Monday, including Randhurst and Streets of Woodfield, because they still hadn't cleared all the snow.
Travelers.
Canceled flights, delayed trains, cars getting stuck in the snow - a bad day for every mode of travel.
Bars, restaurants and pizza delivery.
The suburban Lou Malnati's pizzerias closed at 7 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday, in part because they were concerned with their employees getting home safely in the storm. The Super Bowl party at Crosstown Pub & Grill in Naperville drew about one-fourth the people they expected.
"But everyone who came in that day was there for the whole night," said Crosstown manager Dave Holman. "It wasn't disastrous, but it was definitely not normal. We have lots of extra (food)."
Mail carriers and grocery cart collectors.
Talk about a workout.
Anyone who planned a Sunday event.
Many events were canceled, like Wauconda's annual Vintage Snowmobile Ride and Show, or the Hoffman Estates Lions Club's SuperBowling Party. Others struggled to carry on. The Geneva Park District held its Super Shuffle 5K Sunday morning, but park district employees had to show up for work at 3 a.m. to clear snow.
Winners
Kids.
School closed. Sled hill open. Skies sunny.
Super Bowl ratings.
They were the highest in Super Bowl history, according to NBC Sports. The down-to-the-wire game deserves credit, but it probably didn't hurt that millions of people between Omaha and Pittsburgh were trapped inside by the weather.
Snowplow companies.
The lackluster year of snowfall ended. The Snow Plow Guy, a Grayslake-based commercial and residential plower, sent its six trucks to more than 100 customers three or four times each between Saturday night and Monday morning.
"I tried to go home and sleep for a little while, but I couldn't," said owner Gary Natkin. "We like to go out in the middle of the night, because there's no traffic. But the Super Bowl helped us do our jobs."
In his 42 years doing this, he described this year as "average." He's used to 8 to 12 snowstorms each year. So far this year, there have been five.
Weather forecasters.
They looked a little foolish last week, after hyperbolic claims of a historic snowfall in New York City. But this one they got right, even if they did underestimate the magnitude. Originally, they said we'd get 6 to 10 inches.
Grocery stores.
It was a grocery store trifecta: a Saturday, Super Bowl party shopping and storm preparation. Anyone who tried to shop on Saturday will tell you suburban grocery stores were packed. Sunday, not so much. But it was still a good weekend for grocery stores, said Mariano's spokeswoman Amanda Puck.
Social media.
Lots of free time to post photos for their warm-weather friends to see.
Hardware stores.
Shovels, salt and snowblowers were in high demand. "Whenever we have a big snow forecast, our sales spike," said Rob Livingston, general manager of the Ace Hardware Store in Geneva. "It's a lot of work for us, but we're helping people solve a problem: getting dug out."