One year later, spring-like day replaces big blizzard
By STEVE METSCH smetsch@southtownstar.com January 31, 2012 10:50PM
Oak Lawn police officer Paul Cihocki (left) surveys the scene at 98th Street and Menard Avenue where a street light was toppled by a village snow plow during the blizzard Tuesday, February 1, 2011. | Brett Roseman ~ Sun-Times Media
Updated: March 2, 2012 8:15AM
One year ago Wednesday, tiny Tillie would have been lost in the landscape, her white fur blending in with a huge blizzard that dumped about two feet of snow on the Southland.
But on Tuesday, basking in temperatures that flirted with 60, the little Maltese dog was playfully strolling along 167th Street in Tinley Park with her owner Jeff Forbes.
“Tillie does not like snow. She’ll come in with snowballs crusted up in her fur. So she’s loving this,” said Forbes, 60.
So was he.
“This is great. I just hope we don’t have to pay for it soon,” Forbes said.
The mild end to January had Laurie Kman ducking out of work early to wash her van in the driveway of her home in the 16500 block of Paxton Avenue in Tinley Park.
“It’s wonderful. It feels great. It’s crazy,” said Kman, who also planned to wash her other car.
One of the oddest sights was Michael Mannion wearing a bright tie-dye shirt as he rode his bicycle in the 9800 block of 151st Street in Orland Park, his open jacket flapping in the breeze.
“It’s a workout, but it’s fun. I wouldn’t have thought about doing this a year ago,” Mannion, 24, said.
Frank Kelly, 59, taking a break from a four-mile walk around Tinley Park, said, “You can’t ask for better weather at the end of January and start of February.
“I’d rather have this all year,” Kelly said.
“We should enjoy it while it lasts,” said Frank Fitzgerald, 52, of Hometown, as he filled up at a Speedway gas station in Homer Glen. “Spring is here again, but I hope we get several feet of snow to teach everybody a lesson.”
Moments later, perhaps realizing such a comment could make him Public Enemy No. 1, Fitzgerald backpedaled faster than tires spinning in slush.
“Hey, go easy on me,” he said.
Too late, Frank. When the blizzard hits, we’re counting on you to shovel out the Southland.
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