It’s a miracle: D.C. beat Jonas

WASHINGTON, D.C .• Snowzilla has headed out to sea, allowing the residents of the American capital to emerge from an enforced hibernation and shovel out their cars from under thigh-deep snow.

After a day and a half of white- out conditions, Washington’s residents emerged Sunday, blinking under perfect blue skies to start digging out. Winter Storm Jonas officially qualified as a blizzard — three straight hours of winds of more than 60 km/h, visibility less than half a kilometre and blowing snow.

In the wake of the nor’easter, t he roads were all but deserted of cars, t he s ubway s uspended, while schools and airports were closed until further notice.

Twenty- six people were reported dead from various causes ranging from heart attacks to hypothermia in the wake of Jonas, which stretched from North Virginia to Boston. Satellite images show a swirling, angry mass of weather that one watcher termed “a generational event.”

Normal service was suspended on most fronts, including the cancellation of the Washington Capitals-Pittsburgh Penguins NHL game Saturday.

But while such severe storms inevitably bring bad news, it was nowhere near as tragic as the record snowfall of 1922 when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre in the Adam’s Morgan district collapsed, killing more than 100 people.

Sunday was characterized by Washingtonians in high spirits. With the transit system closed and many cars entombed by snow, locals headed to the parks and open spaces to enjoy the fourth- biggest dump of snow since records began 130 years ago.

At Meridian Park in the city’s northwest, locals organized the Snowzilla snowball fight between the Polar Bears and the American Bald Eagles, before participants were invited to head to a local bar for an all- day happy hour.

“Bring your battle gear” ran the invitation on social media sites. One character, who may or may not have been Canadian, charged the other side in swim trunks and a toque.

As temperatures edged above freezing, it was more like a day at the beach than a typical Canadian winter’s day, as locals threw Frisbees and sat in the sun.

Snowplows were rarer than hen’s teeth and it will be days before normal ser- vice is resumed. But lest Canadians get too smug, it should be recalled then Toronto mayor, Mel Lastman, called in the army in 1999, after a smaller dump of snow than Washington just experienced.

The National Zoo was closed but footage emerged of giant pandas BaoBao and TiaTia romping in the snow. The elephants were given the chance to run around outside but it seems that only Kemala, who came from the Calgary Zoo, took advantage.

By Sunday afternoon it seemed the whole town had emerged blinking from a 36- hour hibernation to enjoy the respite from the storm. Streets thronged with people walking around in the sun. Roads remained tricky, with many side streets and their buried automobiles still entombed in snow up to the headlights.

Far from being a glum city of government, Washington was alive to the sound of people getting out of their cars and houses and shopping malls to enjoy the weather.

Like mayflies, the shortest lived species on the planet, Washingtonians thronged to their open spaces to enjoy the fluffy white stuff that we Canadians oft come to regard as a four-letter word.

MORE LIKE A DAY AT THE BEACH THAN A CANADIAN WINTER’S DAY.