Posted on 12/18/2009 5:59:52 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
A major storm was expected to bury the Washington region Saturday with what forecasters said could be the largest snowfall to hit the area in six years and the greatest December accumulation in more than 70 years.
Accumulations of 15 inches or more in the city and up to 24 inches in parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains were possible, according to the National Weather Service. The snow was expected to cause significant disruptions for shoppers, travelers and revelers on the last weekend -- and biggest shopping day -- before Christmas.
Especially large amounts of snow could accumulate southeast of the Interstate 95 corridor, where "paralyzing" near-blizzard conditions could occur, said AccuWeather.com chief meteorologist Joe Bastardi.
Snow was expected to start falling early Saturday and to increase in intensity all day, as bands of precipitation, fed by moisture from the Atlantic Ocean and driven by a cold northeast wind, sweep over the area.
Temperatures will remain in the 20s and low 30s, aggravated by gusty winds of 20 to 25 mph, the Weather Service said. The snow was not expected to taper off until Sunday morning.
Severe highway, rail and air travel disruptions were anticipated. Some airlines were canceling flights Friday, and authorities urged people to stay off the roads. Southwest Airlines said it was allowing customers using six East Coast airports to rebook tickets without penalties.
A state of emergency was declared in Virginia, where the National Guard was on alert to help with emergency transportation. In the District, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) declared a snow emergency, effective at 7 a.m. Saturday. All vehicles must be removed from the city's snow routes or they will be ticketed and towed.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
George Washington made it through.
sw
That must be a fun trip in the winter months...NOT! :)
Oh my! 20 inches would be a bear, wouldn’t it?
Hope you keep your power. News here is reporting 300,000 out of power in Northern and Western NC. (where they got the worst of the snow).
Stay warm, keep freepin’ on, and enjoy the beauty of the snow!
Good!
I have beer, water, egg nogg, liquor, lots of venison, tuna fish, pasta. I will be fine. Plus I can walk or 4x4 it to the store in a day or two.
My dad drove out to the Wal-mart here in Leesburg and couldn't get into the parking lot.
There's plenty of snow outside here already.
You’re set then! Keep on Freepin!
Are we shut down?
NOPE!"
Of course, your highway department's snowplows are 15 feet tall battleships with blades as big as a garage door up there. :-)
We just got 1.5' down in the valley and several feet up in the mountains. I have over a foot in the front yard and the city roads just started drying up after a week of slippery ice.
Our first snowfall after summer was on September 30th, and we had 90 degree weather two weeks before that. That beats all records, I'm told.
I'm basically in the extended Eastern Sierra range next to Lake Tahoe.
For those of you Freepers who are championship skiiers and want conditions like you can only find in the Swiss Alps and the Rockies, get on a plane to Reno soon as you can. It's shaping up to be a snowy winter like few can remember in recent history.
Husband wants to retire to Hawaii. I want to retire to Alaska, LOL! Looks like when the time comes, the snowblower is going with ME!
wait, how many cases of beer?
Wow. Hope all travelers have safe safe safe journeys. And all shoppers too.
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I think I saw FR down too
I backed up into threads but could not post comments
Nothing was on Yahoo!
How’s that global warming working out, D.C.?
With this storm, they are saying to watch it especially up in the NE part of the state (Ironically, where I am heading for Christmas).
I wonder if they still sell that stuff you could sprinkle on your logs that would make them sparkle green, red and blue as they burned.
You sound set. We had unheard-of snow last week here in Austin, just enough to be pretty in the air... it’s a treat to get snowed or iced in down here, and we prepare outrageously: buying two weeks of provisions for a 2-day shutdown, just in case :)
No, nothing was on FR2 at Yahoo, but it only lasted a short time. Pretty late I think and I may have just gone to bed.
I liked watching the rotary snowplows on the UP trains through the Sierras. What a sight those were to see when busting through 10’ drifts.... snow arching out, out, out into the chasm to the north of the tracks in a huge plume....
Here’s an example of a rotary in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frBh5vO_2g0&feature=related
There’s eight inches on top of my compost bin - I can see it from the back door.
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