DC gets inch of snow; grinds to a halt

"Lengthy, slow-moving commutes."

Well, thank goodness we never get much more than that.

Mind the Snow Emergency Route

Just heard on Channel 4 News: According to Police Chief Cathy Lanier, DC Police handed out 4,000 parking tickets during the blizzard to cars parked along emergency routes. At $250 a pop, that's ... $1 MILLION.

Perhaps that will replace some of that pitiful $6.2 million they had set aside for plowing.

DC also quickly ticketed cars legally parked but whose owners could not wade through the masses of plowed snow to reach the meters.

Great Moments in Senate Speechifying

"I am convinced that infants born in Washington, D.C., are taken from the arms of their loving mothers right when they are born into a room where someone shows a film of a snowstorm with shrieking and screaming so that those children come to believe snow is a mortal enemy, like a nuclear attack, because I have seen, for over 40 years here, people in this town go into a full-scale panic at the thought of a snowfall."

-Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL

Morning Snowflakes

As I gird myself to head out and shovel (again), please enjoy these tales of snow panic.

• Two James Madison University student have been charged with felony assault for throwing snowballs ("missiles") at a snow plow and undercover police. (Thanks to Snowpanic.com reader JG for the tip.)
  
• A falling chunk of ice dislodged a gas line, causing a leak at a NW Washington school.
  
• A Hyattsville woman joked on Tuesday, "Now would be a really bad time to go into labor." Wednesday, at the height of the blizzard, she did.
  

They'll pry her snowball from her cold, cold hand...

Snow ball fights in dc are hard core on 12seconds.tv

There's a new report of an interaction between snowballs and police officers in DC. Either police tried to break up a snowball fight, got hit by a snowball, and arrested the woman who threw it, or police tried to break up a snowball fight, may or may not have gotten hit by a snowball, and arrested the woman who didn't throw it. Depends on whom you believe. Unless there's more conclusive video footage, this one doesn't have the legs of the December story.

A Snowmaggedon Mystery

The Washington post reports that the Tenleytown Safeway was left open by employees fleeing today's storm. In response, weary residents walked in, took groceries, and left money on the empty checkout counters.

A heartwarming tale of people doing the right thing in the midst of absolute chaos. But it gets weirder...

Safeway spokesman Craig M. Muckle said a member of Safeway's security staff got to the store shortly after 2 p.m. Muckle said he was told by the security staff member that all four doors were locked and nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

"Nothing was actually taken," Muckle said. "And there was no money left on the counter."

Oh, so it was an urban legend? Not really...

The paragraph immediately preceding the above denial reads:

A Post reporter was able to enter the Tenleytown store and saw the money, confirming accounts by witnesses and the police. In fact, police said they were having trouble finding anyone from the supermarket chain to secure the building about 1 p.m.

So who are you going to believe? Safeway spokesman Craig M. Muckle? Or the police and Washington Post? I don't know; it makes me suspicious of Safeway's other denials.

Dear Dr. Snowpanic, Global Warming Denial Edition

Dear Dr. Snowpanic;

Wouldn't you agree that the weather events of the past month have vindicated the global warming deniers?

Concerned citizen,
Tucson, Arizona

Dear CCTA,

I would say, rather, that the recent weather in DC was vindicated noted science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson.  His 2005 book, Fifty Degrees Below, features the nation's capital trapped beneath feet of snow.  Sound familiar? 

You see, according to NASA, "Global warming could plunge North America and Western Europe into a deep freeze, possibly within only a few decades." This global warming scenario envisions a shutdown of the North Atlantic Conveyor (what laypeople refer to as the "Gulf Stream"). The true snow panicker should assume such an event is happening right now; that is as plausible as thinking that the snowstorms have disproved global warming. Think you survived the December and February snows OK? How about the March, April, June and July ones?

Good luck!

-Dr. Snowpanic

Snowball Fight in Dupont Circle

IMG_4533
Originally uploaded by zugaldia

Dr. and Mrs. Snowpanic were sad to miss this epic snowball fight yesterday in Dupont Circle, as well as the much closer one at McKeldin Mall at the University of Maryland.

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Is On...The Floor

...at the Marriott Wardman Park. So, escaping to a hotel is not a complete solution to the day's events...

Didn't See This One Coming...

Of all the hazards that people anticipated from Snowmaggedon, I don't think people at Washington Hospital Center expected to be evacuated because a snow plow caught fire.

"Total accumulations of around 12 inches or more are a pretty good bet"

OK, the panic is back!

Double Trouble

There are two storms headed our way in the DC area. On the one hand, there's only a 15% chance for each storm to exceed 4 inches -- on the other, that means that there's a nontrivial chance that we'll get three significant storms in one week. Panicking yet?

Panic Heads South; DC Area Just Mildly Nervous

The Capital Weather Gang, Snowpanic.com's favorite weather blog, predicts about 1-4 inches in DC, but 6-12 in Richmond.

"Cop admits to pulling gun at snowball fight"

I think the title of this video says it all. Ah, DC's finest.


Originally spotted at Gotcha Media.

Run for your life! No, wait, don't do that either!

D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is urging pedestrians to get off the streets during the snow storm.

Also:

Shortly after noon, a snow plow collided with a bus. Piringer says nine people suffered minor injuries.

News Channel 9 Reports on Snowplow Activity

Andrea Roane on Channel 9 News, at 6:13 am:

It’s a treacherous morning, and this is one reason why … if you can stay home, don’t leave: Route 50 at 201 is closed this morning. It is closed because one of the snow trucks trying to help us get around hit a light post (and) brought down some (power) lines. Again, that has closed Route 50 at 201.