2012 Blizzard in Duluth, MN

What an odd winter this has been indeed.  Here I am living in Duluth, MN and I've seen very little snow even in the winter months that typically keep us buried in our homes.  But, at the end of February all of that changed with a blizzard that shut down the City of Duluth and kept coming back for more over several days.  The lake was so angry it threw waves at the shoreline hard enough to reach the top of the Canal Park breakwater lighthouses.

I drove down to Canal Park to see the waves from myself and I was amazed to see the surf throwing chunks of ice from the shoreline as far as 30 feet, well into the parking lot after big rollers.  The force behind the ice was strong enough to make me worry about my camera equipment and dodge it to avoid walking away with my own bruises.

Despite being a balmy 28 degrees outside, the wind (gusts up to 80 MPH) made my un-covered hands painfully cold within minutes.  But, luck was with me because the spray and fog settled down just long enough to take this image of the lighthouse before I had to get back to the truck to warm up.