Whether digging, or blowing the snow away, people in Eau Claire say they're having a tough go of it Wednesday morning.

"I just got out here!” says Chris Giegel, gazing over the vast whiteness that is his front yard. “This is something else."

"It took 45 minutes just to get my car from the garage to the street,” says David Rice, as he and his daughter continue to dig out.

Many people we spoke to say it wasn't the inches of snow; it was the gusty winds creating huge drifts that made many late for work.

“Some of the drifts in the alley were up to the mid thigh or the belly button, so it's been hard to do that,” says Rice.

By law, you're required to remove the snow from all public sidewalks within 24 hours of the end of the snowfall. But Brian Amundson in Eau Claire says they may be more lenient this time.

In the neighborhood we drove through, most people were pitching in and helping each other out to get the job done.

"Neighbors, friends, people that need help and don't have a snow blower,” says J.B. Espie, when asked who he’s helping with his snow blower. “And it's drifted, so that's the main problem: three or four foot drifts."

But everyone we spoke to says they're glad to finish the hard work early, so they can kick back, stay in, and take in the beauty of the first snowfall of the season.