Yes, it’s snowing, during the day, here in wonderful Washington, DC. Panic is running rampant through the streets. My office is considering shutting down, as there must be at least an inch on the ground. Rush hour is going to start early and end about midnight. Wrecked minivans and SUVs will dot the highways from Frednecksbug, VA to Fredneck, MD.
Ah, memories…
I shan’t mention that it’s near 80 in Jacksonville… balmy… gentle breezes swaying the palms…
No doubt about it - people around DC turn whacko when anyone uses the “S” word. No doubt grocery store shelves are being stripped of milk, bread, and toilet paper this very moment…
Well, I know I am. But that’s only because I think Oklahoma is done with it’s snow for the year. We got about 4 winters worth in Stillwater this year. Brrr.
The only good thing I have to say about this winter from hell is that it has been great snuggle weather
Of course, the haze is from two freaking wildfires: the big one in Polk County, with 10 miles of I-4 shutdown between Rte 27 and Lakeland, and a smaller fire still smouldering on Nova Road in Kissimmee (near my house and with not 1/10 the news coverage). The whole outdoors smells like a campfire and I’ve been coughing for a week. Thank the deities for air conditioning.
“Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice…” - Robert Frost
Hey, FCM, can I crash with you if we ever have to evacuate?
Sure, if you don’t mind sleeping on an inflatable mattress on the floor… Not that it’s much safer here - as dry as it’s been, people are scared of the potential for a major fire here. All it takes is a spark… Not very comforting when your house backs to woods…
130 cars!?!?! Lordy…I was amazed by the reports of 32 and 25 car pileups that I was hearing on the way home today. A trip, by the way, that took an hour and a half instead of the normal 20 minutes because of a measly 5 car wreck.
You really have to wonder what in the world is going through people’s heads. Do they just not recognize the nature of that strange white stuff falling from the sky? Is the concept of slowing down just too foreign for those hard-driven denizens of the beltway to grasp? Sheesh.
Now remember, DC is home to some of the world’s worst drivers and the first snow fall is always the one that reveals people at their worst.
It’s late February and we really haven’t had any snowfall at all for the entire winter. Several near-misses but really nothing.
Normally we sort of transition our way into the whole driving-in-the-snow thing but not this time.
So…
Our first snowfall, late February, everyone forgets the most basic snow-driving techniques and there is the 130 car smash up. Of course there were two other 20+ vehicle accidents that also occurred today in the area but they were overshadowed by the big one in VA.
I was in two semi-accidents driving home from school today. I cut my Shakespeare 351 so I could beat the snow, but it was already pretty heavy when I left. I was on the exit ramp onto 95 North, going 10 mph (speed limit is normally 35) and I was turning the wheel, but the car kept going straight around the curve. Luckily I missed a pole by about a foot, and several people stopped, one of whom backed my car off the embankment for me.
Then I had to take a detour because of an accident by my house, and along the way the idiot in front of me slammed on his brakes at a yellow light. I was about 4 car lengths behind, going 20 mph, but as I eased my foot gently onto the brake pedal, my car went into a skid and ended up facing the other way on the shoulder. It took me about 20 minutes to wait for traffic to abate and get turned around.
Having grown up in PA, I would have thought that the citizens of my new town of York PA would have been used to snow driving, but apparently not. My dad said that, on his drive home, he saw car tracks going straight off at a bend. Sure enough, the car which made the tracks was sitting on an embankment, its driver still in the seat with a dazed look on his face.
It’s Pennsylvania, people! You should be used to snow by now!
Final verdict, about 2-3 inches at my home in central Fairfax County. So on my “DC Snow of Doom” hypeometer, this rates about a 8 which is in the “What the Hell is Wrong with You!” zone. Though, where there was the 130 car pileup (actually 116) there was about 4-6 inches on the ground, plus ice. I don’t think anyone died though, thank goodness.
According to the weather.com forecast for my area (St. Paul, MN), it’s 12F. It’s supposed to snow every day for the next three or four. Virtually every flake of snow that’s fallen is still on the ground.
Took me 45 minutes to get home. Not bad for DC, you may say…I live 6 MILES from my office. I skidded over 10 times, had the antilock brakes kick in so hard that they vibrated repeatedly 3 times…
And what gets me is…I went home at 5. It had been snowing since what, 10? 11? I swear to GOD, NOTHING WAS PLOWED! No salt, no plow, no nothing on ANY secondary roads in Howard County. My damn parking lot is plowed better than the main road in Columbia.
Driving in this morning should be a piece of cake, actually. The snow stopped early yesterday evening, the plows ran through the night, it’s a normal day out there, except for the white stuff (and scattered auto body parts) by the side of the road.
What irks me about a day like yesterday is that, when the government decides what leave status we’re on, the eastern suburbs seem to get ignored. We had 6" yesterday, and by around 3pm, the roads were just plain dangerous. (I’d gone home at lunchtime, but then decided to run an errand in midafternoon. It was an adventure.) Despite this, OPM didn’t get as far as declaring unscheduled leave in effect.
Same with the hurricane a year and a half ago; 65-mph winds, but did the government close? Nah, it wasn’t that bad in Fairfax, so why should they? And the blizzard last winter - when the snow was already past the first step up to my door at 5:30 am, the government was still open. (That was where we wound up with a foot and a half of snow, and the feds ultimately gave us two days off.) Again, it wasn’t so bad over in Falls Church, so what was the hurry?
I’m convinced that inclement weather in Bowie or Upper Marlboro doesn’t exist, as far as they’re concerned, let alone out here in Calvert County. Grrrrrr.
But yesterday! Yikes! I haven’t lived in the DC area for very long, but why do so many people seem absolutely shocked to see snow? Has this never, ever happened before? This isn’t Arizona. I’m pretty sure it’s snowed before (like, say, earlier this winter). Yeah, those little white things falling from the sky? That’s snow! This means you (ahem) don’t drive as fast as you would if those little white things weren’t falling!
[Trying hard not to cuss, since this isn’t the Pit and not Pit-worthy, anyway!]
That massive wreck apparently was caused by people driving too fast in a blinding snowstorm. That’s it! I’m calling the Stupidity Police, they have found their new deputies. Of course, the backup on that part of 95 screwed all the interstates up. A lot of people operated at either of two speeds: 1 or 100 miles per hour. Arrrrgh!
And next week I hear it’s gonna be in the 60s… hehe
