Snow blankets the East in sneak-attack storm
WASHINGTON — A winter storm packing heavy snow blew into the nation’s capital Monday, closing government offices and schools and grounding the president’s helicopter as 6 to 11 inches of snow ringed the area around Washington.
Snow spotters for the National Weather Service reported accumulations of 11.5 inches in the D.C. suburb of Capitol Heights, Md., and 10 inches in Rose Hill, Va., by the time the storm wound down Monday afternoon. At Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, 6.7 inches of snow was reported. Farther south, in Chancellorsville, Va., 12.1 inches was reported.
“It was balmy and foggy yesterday and then 6 inches of snow this morning, not even 12 hours later. That’s not something I’ve seen before,” said Shawn Devroude, 52, a federal worker who braved the blizzard-like conditions in the nation’s capital to play with his 9-year-old border collie, MoJo, at the Naval Memorial.
The heavy snowfall, coupled with closings caused by the surge in coronavirus cases, forced much of Washington to shut down. Four of the Smithsonian museums had already closed in late December because of a covid-19 outbreak. The National Zoo announced Monday that it would close for the day because of the snow.
Strong wind gusts and snow falling at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour made travel treacherous. In Virginia, state police responded to more than 500 traffic accidents, including a crash involving six tractor-trailers. State police said no injuries were reported in the crash.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a snow emergency and advised residents to stay home.
“Stay off the roads and allow our crews to work,” she said.
President Joe Biden made a slow return to Washington after spending about a week in Delaware.
The snow grounded Biden’s helicopter, so he motorcaded to the White House from Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland, a slow slog that took nearly an hour. The White House press briefing was canceled, although Biden’s other public events stayed on schedule.
More than half the flights were delayed or canceled Monday at Washington’s three major airports, according to FlightAware.com’s misery map. A quarter of the flights at New York’s three major airports were delayed or canceled as well.
Andrea Klein, 23, a graduate student at Georgetown University, welcomed the snow after spending the past two weeks in quarantine when one of her roommates tested positive for covid-19.
“Things have been feeling a bit stressful in the world lately, so to walk around in the snow with friends is a nice return to normalcy,” she said while strolling around the National Mall taking pictures.
Many covid-19 testing and vaccination sites were closed in D.C., Virginia and Maryland because of the weather. Multiple school districts in the region also closed, delayed opening or had virtual learning Monday.
Karla Rivas, who is originally from Miami but now lives in Baltimore, experienced her first-ever winter storm.
“I love it,” she said. “I feel like it’s great to have the seasons.”
Other parts of the country were also dealing with a snowy start to the new year.
Western Washington state and Oregon were seeing a mix of rain and snow while heavy snow, gusty winds, drifts and crashes shut down mountain passes and some highways.
Even Florida woke up to a dusting of snow, with temperatures plunging in parts of the Panhandle after typical beach weather Sunday.
As much as 6 inches of snow accumulated in north Alabama.
Frost and freeze warnings were issued all the way down to the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana.
Many regarded the parent storm as a sneak-attack system, with the disturbance confounding weather models tasked with simulating its impacts.
Only on Sunday did the scope and magnitude of the storm’s true impacts begin to come into focus. Last week, it was hardly a blip to be concerned about.