I don't think anyone is used to planning for middle of the day snow...

The Washington Post:

My work:

Fire & Ice

We have been spared the panic-worthy stories for the most part, but they are starting to trickle in.

The Washington Post brings us the picture of some poor sap in Silver Spring who had more than the usual trouble driving in a blizzard.

Dr. Snowpanic Gets Results!

I noticed a Washington Post article recapping area laws about shoveling your sidewalk. DC gives you a relatively skimpy 8 (daylight) hours after the snow stops falling. The article said that Prince George's County gives you 24 hours. I know, however, that PG gives you 48 hours. This is important, because there are going to be less than 48 hours between the end of last night's inchpocalypse and the onset of the end-of-times snow we're getting this weekend. I am not throwing my back out clearing an inch of snow that's going to be buried under 3 more feet by the end of the weekend.

So I tweeted at the post (my only regret is not using the official Dr. Snowpanic twitter account). And they corrected it! I mean, they didn't mention in the article that they had corrected it, which seems a bit weird, but hey.

DC gets inch of snow; grinds to a halt

"Lengthy, slow-moving commutes."

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

Snowpanic in June?

The Washington Post is reporting that many area school systems have exhausted their store of snow days and will be adding days to the end of the year. As a kid, I always thought snow days were not that exciting...it just shifted around the days that you were going to school. Even if you still had snow days "left", it just meant you wouldn't be getting out of school early in the summer. Now, 2-hour delays...that was time you'd never have to give back. Ditto early dismissals.

It's On Again!

The Washington Post reports that the traditional DuPont Circle snowball fight is scheduled for 6:30 pm. So grab your scarf and leave your gun at home.

We've Forgotten How to Drive!

Snowpanic.com has been somewhat dormant since its heyday in the 2009/2010 season of superstorms. One of the reasons for that is that after Snowpocalypse and Snowmaggedon, everything else seemed anticlimactic. How much time would have to pass before we could get scared by a little snow again? We have an answer!

The Washington Post captions this picture, "Remember snow like this? Many drivers don’t, and that’s likely to be a problem on Wednesday." Can we really have forgotten how bad it was just a couple of years ago? Have enough people moved to the area in the past 3 years? Stay tuned!

Dumb Criminal Bulletin

Last week's snowstorm left many people across the DC area without power. Cell phones are great, but how do you charge your phone if your home is without power? Many people might bring their phone to work and plug it in. This is not a problem, unless your boss is a jerk, or you are a burglar who is startled and leaves your phone in the house, so that police can use it to track you down.

How dare they tow abandoned cars?

The Washington Post has an article today about the bad luck of the people whose cars were towed after being abandoned during the recent snowstorm.  The article's editorial perspective, however, seemed to me a bit odd.

Look...you may have good reasons for leaving your car on the side of the road (or in the middle of an intersection, in the case of one person interviewed for the article). But trying to make villains of the towing companies is a little bit difficult in this case, since they were helping clear the roads so that other people could get around. So the article seems to demonize those who refused to stop.

"I helped push seven cars out of trouble, but then when I looked back, I couldn't get no one to help me," he said. So he left his Oldsmobile Alero on the side of the ramp, and started the long walk to a Giant to get a ride from a friend.

Well, can you blame them?  Look what happened to you when you stopped to help other people.

In the tale of the woman who left her car in the middle of an intersection, the article writer tries to introduce a little class warfare:

For almost 15 minutes, she tried to wave down every passing car. A string of BMWs and Audis passed by, but the drivers wouldn't make eye contact, as though even a look would oblige them to help.

(Disclaimer: Dr. Snowpanic gets around town in a 2001 Honda -- with four-wheel drive, of course.) So who stops to help her? "A short man driving one of the oldest, most beaten-up cars she'd ever seen." Of course -- I also picture him as balding, with a potbelly.

There is plenty to criticize in the response to the storm -- towing should be more systematic, so drivers know where to retrieve their cars.  Maybe the local governments should pay tow-truck drivers to pull cars into nearby parking lots, rather than to their impound lots.  But you have to pay them somehow to go out in the middle of a snowstorm, and I didn't see anyone in the article volunteering to have their taxes raised to get that to happen.

Actual reasons to panic...

According to the Post, 2 inches snow/hour + rush hour=bad news.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Panic...

The Post says "at least a moderate snowstorm".  A little bit out of context?  Yep, but that's how we roll here at the 'panic.  Stay tuned to see if we have the first serious milk and toilet paper run of the '10-'11 season.

Boxing Day Snowgnarök

OK, after "Snowpocalypse" and "Snowmaggedon", we're kind of running out of ideas here...

I don't mean to alarm you (who am I kidding, this is snowpanic.com, of course I do), but there is a Winter Storm Watch for tomorrow.  Quoth the meteorologists:

ACCUMULATIONS...POSSIBILITY OF 5 OR MORE INCHES.

Let me just emphasize: I am not using all-caps to scare you. THE WEATHER PEOPLE ARE.

They Said "Crippling"

According to the Washington Post,

The latest GFS model simulates a major to crippling East Coast snowstorm for Sunday.

(And then a bunch of caveats, but why should those concern us?)

It's Not Too Soon to Start Panicking about the Next Storm!

The Washington Post reports on people spending fistfuls of money to stave off snow-related disaster.  How can you spend your money with winter still a month and a half away?

• "Installing heat tape in a W or Y pattern along the roof at the gutter's edge and into downspouts costs between $500 and $1,000..."
• "Ice and water shield installation costs about $500 to $750 for an entire roof." 
• "To stop the escape of heat, homeowners may want to install new fiberglass insulation ($500 to $1,000) in the attic or blow-in foam insulation, which is more permeating ($2,000 to $5,000), Burgess said."
• "You can pay as little as $250 for a small electric plug-in snowblower, $400 to $500 for a decent gasoline-powered blower that can easily clear most sidewalks and smaller residential driveways, and up to $1,500 for a ride-on machine than can blow the snow some 50 feet."
• "Lower-priced gasoline-powered rollaway units that can be stored in a garage or shed until needed cost between $600 and $2,500." 
• "[A] whole-house stand-alone generator...can be installed in a permanent location for a total price of $7,000 to $8,000."

This is DC: We Need to Know Where to Place Blame

In regard to the snowstorms that affected the D.C. metro region and other mid-Atlantic and northeast coastal regions, a new study by a team of scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory argues that global warming was not involved.

Instead, the Washington Post reports,

the anomalous winter was primarily the result of convergence of an exceptionally strong El Nino and unusually strong negative phase of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).

Just so we're clear.

I'd be worried more about my eyesight than the snow...

The Washington Post reports:

A resident reported that a white dog appeared to be stuck in heavy snow in a yard; it had not moved in some time, and the caller feared for the animal's safety. An officer entered the yard and discovered that the "dog" was a metalized nylon balloon with the face of a white dog on it.

How Not to Get Ice off Your Roof

• Don't use a propane torch.
• Don't use a propane torch if you have antique Porsches in your garage.
• "[H]ire a professional -- one who doesn't employ propane torches."

Someone in Rockville violated all those rules.

Not the best way to get your street plowed...

County drivers working to plow the roads in Prince George's County were accosted Thursday around 10 a.m. by several residents, who told them that if their streets didn't get plowed they were going to "throw them out of their trucks and beat them up," said Susan Hubbard, spokeswoman for the county's Department of Public Works and Transportation.

Full report, including a clarification that doesn't really clear things up, in the Washington Post.

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.

Snow Crash

To use the term du jour, please, everyone, "shelter in place".  The Washington Post reports a ridiculous number of crashes in Maryland and Virginia today. 

• "A van ran into the back of a snow plow on Route 426 at Interstate 95."
• In Virginia, two men stopped to help another motorist and were hit by a tractor-trailer

Here at Snowpanic.com, we like to make light of the brouhaha, but if panic causes you to stay off the road, good.