SOUTH MILWAUKEE — Like many people in the communities along the shore of Lake Michigan in Southeast Wisconsin, Mary Bauhs, of South Milwaukee, was shocked to find more than a foot of snow on the ground when she looked outside on Tuesday morning.
She immediately grabbed a shovel and got to work digging out.
"I got to go get my COVID vaccine today," said Bauhs. "I get the vaccine, I want to get out so I can go get it."
She had a lot of snow to shovel. Luckily, her neighbor was close by to lend a helping hand.
"This is a godsend, really. It really is," said Bauhs.
Her neighbor, Roger Borkowski, came to the rescue with his snowblower.
"It's not that bad. I'd rather do this than mow the lawn to tell you the truth," said Borkowski, who is a self-described fan of the snow. He enjoys snowmobiling and says this snow is overdue here in Wisconsin.
"December and January was so little snow and it was so warm. I knew we were going to pay the price eventually," said Borkowski.
Borkowski wasn't the only person able to brush off the high snow totals. To the south in Caledonia, where up to 14 inches of snow had been recorded Tuesday morning, Matt Giles was on a mission himself.
After digging out his parents and giving them a ride to work, Giles said he had a busy day ahead of him.
"Cleaning my sister's driveway out, going back cleaning our driveway out again and then I'm off to work," said Giles.
But, like Borkowski, instead of dreading the mess the storm is leaving behind, he is finding something to look forward to in it.
"Oh, I love it. I like snowmobiling," he said as he now looks forward to hitting the trails sometime soon.
As of noon on Tuesday, snow was still falling in many of the communities along the lakefront.
Cudahy's city engineer, Mary Jo Lange, said the city is declaring a snow emergency for the first time in "at least 15 years."
Plows are now working around the clock to try and clear the snow from the streets before any more snow moves into the area.
