Videos: Chicago Winters Have Made Us Suffer Since Time Immemorial

By Kate Shepherd in News on Jan 28, 2016 9:54PM

Generations of Chicagoans before us have suffered through Chicago winters, and now, thanks to archival footage from British Pathé, we can watch them do it. The clips below show residents surviving terrible winter weather from 1933 to 1955.

This first newsreel shows Chicago after a blizzard in 1938. Cars try to navigate the streets and people try not to slip on the icy sidewalks. Not much has changed:

A 1955 newsreel shows how the combination of severe winds—of up to 90 mph!—and very icy sidewalks can turn sidewalks into ice rinks:

The "worst blizzard for years" covered the Windy City with 10 inches of snow in 1933 and shut it down, according to this 1933 newsreel:

Basically, thank your lucky stars it's a tropical 40 degrees right now!