Posted on 02/06/2010 7:08:28 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON – A blizzard battered the Mid-Atlantic region Saturday, with emergency crews struggling to keep pace with the heavy, wet snow that has piled up on roadways, toppled trees and left thousands without electricity.
Officials urged people to huddle at home and out of the way of emergency crews. Forecasters said the storm could be the biggest for the nation's capital in modern history.
A record 2 1/2 feet or more was predicted for Washington. As of early Saturday, 10 inches of snow was reported at the White House, while parts of Maryland and West Virginia were buried under more than 20 inches. Forecasters expected snowfall rates to increase, up to 2 inches per hour through Saturday morning.
Blizzard warnings were issued for the District of Columbia, Baltimore, parts of New Jersey and Delaware, and some areas west of the Chesapeake Bay.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The piles of snow are higher than I am (5'2")If this storm stops by tonight I would not be surprised if we have school on Monday.
...and we have about 20 inches right now.
DC's excuse is that we don't get heavy snow often enough to justify big investment in major league snow clearing equipment. We get 10-plus inches every four years or so, and (unlike Chicago, Minneapolis, etc.) it doesn't stick around for long.
Grin and bear it is probably the right response.
we are always plowed promptly in our NoVA suburb, i think they just don’t know what to do with all of this and it is continuing to come down. no way my kids will have school monday, maybe not even TUES! they are both in private schools but one goes by Fairfax Co. and the other by Montgomery Co schools decisions. they are OUT of snowdays and in makeup mode now. My son’s a senior and they don’t have to make up the days but my daughter is a freshman and out of her mind at the prospect of this eating into summer!
I was thinking I could get up there on Amtrak or drive to the Springfield Metro station. Of course, Amtrak has shut down [!!!] and Metro has closed the above ground tracks.
Go figure.
i counted literally 8 salt/snowplow trucks in a 1 mile stretch of 66 yesterday AM, waiting to get to work, and those were official VDOT trucks, not the independent guys with snowplows who get hired by VDOT to help out in situations like this.
I just managed to shovel the path to the driveway, plus clear some space so my little dog could do her business without having to tunnel.
One good thing is that Sunday should stay below freezing, so I won't have to deal with snow that partially thaws and then re-freezes in a solid mass. The plows still have not passed my street, and I'm thinking they will have all they can deal with keeping the highways and major roads open today.
We didn’t get any snow here in northwestern NJ. My daughter, who goes to college in southwestern Virginia, says they closed the university yesterday, and it is still showing this afternoon.
Everyone be sure tomorrow to ask our preachers “Did God or global warming cause the Whiteout in DC?”
If the cities get on the snow when it starts, and keep it cleared off the main routes, it costs less for some fuel and overtime, than it does to let the traffic pack it into ice then tear up all the machinery trying to get it off afterwards.
In this area, the section bosses send the guys home the day before the storm to rest, so that when they call them out, they dont have to pay overtime. There are ways to manage all things. The maintenance crews have the trucks loaded with sand and the snow plows on and they are lined up at the yard now in expectation of the next big one coming in Monday.
Freezing fog. That would be hard to drive or walk through! Fog cube.
If we have one more snow day at my school, we will be going until the first day of summer.
it could have been worse.
****
Definitely, I love my little old car, but if it dies this way I’m okay with that! No one was hurt, and we still have heat and electricity and the internet connection!
well if you can’t get here, the Pens [loathsome as they are ; )] can’t either. Unless they have some jetpack deals like in Ironman and can get from Canada down to DC, that way! LOL!
I am thanking God for the power still being on. got a text msg from a good friend who lives in Potomac MD, they have been without power since 2 am. we had two power interruptions of a minute today thus far, but everything is still working, fingers crossed.
I'm sure there is a law that forbids that type of activity now.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
