I went to Rockford, Illinois for a couple of days last week, and ended up staying the whole week when the snow storm hit. When the lights started flickering I immediately went to Wal-Mart and bought some food and water, just in case, but everything worked out.

The snow shut down O'Hare airport - 1,000 flights were canceled on Wednesday (February 6, 2008) and they were apparently still sorting that out on Friday. My afternoon flight was canceled and I finally caught an evening flight. That worked out alright because I had time to go to the Chicago Auto Show and have an excellent seared prime rib at the Chicago Chop House.

I don't know the official amount but I believe we had around fourteen inches of snow. A few pictures:

Incidentally I rented a Mazda CX-7 SUV and it was absolutely incredible on the snow and slush. It drove like a car but the AWD and ground clearance were fantastic. It was pretty nice inside, comfortable and fun. If I lived in the northern states I'd put that on the short list.

Links:
Chicago Auto Show
Chicago Chop House
Mazda CX-7