Snowy Hell from the Midwest to the East Coast

[AndThePickles]

Snow piles up, paralyzing nation's capital

By NAFEESA SYEED, Associated Press Writer Nafeesa Syeed, Associated Press Writer 17 mins ago



WASHINGTON – A blizzard battered the Mid-Atlantic region on Saturday, quickly dumping large amounts of snow on that piled up on roadways and toppled trees onto apartment buildings and cars.
Officials urged people to huddle at home for the weekend, out of the way of crews trying to keep up with a storm that forecasters said could be the biggest for the nation's capital in modern history. A father and son were killed in Virginia when a tractor-trailer struck and killed them after they stopped to help another driver.
A record 2 1/2 feet or more was predicted for Washington. As of early Saturday, 10 inches of snow was reported at the White House, while parts of Maryland and West Virginia were buried under more than 20 inches. Forecasters expected snowfall rates to increase, up to 2 inches per hours through Saturday morning.
Blizzard warnings were issued for the District of Columbia, Baltimore, parts of New Jersey and Delaware and some areas west of the Chesapeake Bay.
"Things are fairly manageable, but trees are starting to come down," said D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer, whose agency responded to some of the falling trees. No injuries were reported.
Airlines canceled flights, churches called off weekend services and people wondered if they would be stuck at home for several days in a region ill-equipped to deal with so much snow.
"D.C. traditionally panics when it comes to snow. This time, it may be more justifiable than most times," said Becky Shipp, who was power-walking in Arlington, Va., Friday. "I am trying to get a walk in before I am stuck with just the exercise machine in my condo."
The region's second snowstorm in less than two months brought heavy, wet snow and strong winds.
Several thousand people in West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania had lost electricity and more outages were expected as the snow began to bring down power lines. A hospital fire in D.C. sent about three dozen patients scurrying from their rooms to safety in a basement. The blaze started when a snow plow truck caught fire near the building.
Authorities blamed the storm for hundreds of accidents. Some area hospitals asked people with four-wheel-drive vehicles to volunteer to pick up doctors and nurses to take them to work.
The country band Rascal Flats postponed a concert Saturday in Ohio, but the Atlanta Thrashers-Washington Capitals NHL game went on as planned, and the Capitals extended their team-record winning streak at 13.
In Dover, Del., Shanita Foster left a Dollar General store lugging three gallons of water.
"That's all we need right now; we've got everything else," said Foster, adding that she was ready with candles in case the power went out.
Shoppers jammed aisles and emptied stores of milk, bread, shovels, driveway salt and other supplies. Many scrambling for food and supplies were too late.
"Our shelves are bare," said Food Lion front-end manager Darlene Baboo in Dover. "This is just unreal."
Metro, the Washington-area transit system, closed all but the underground rail service and suspended buses in area that heavily relies on both.
Across the region, transportation officials deployed thousands of trucks and crews and had hundreds of thousands of tons of salt at the ready. Several states exhausted or expected to exhaust their snow removal budgets.
Maryland budgeted about $60 million, and had already spent about $50 million, Gov. Martin O'Malley said. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has been in office less than a month, declared his second snow emergency, authorizing state agencies to assist local governments. As of early Saturday, some parts of Virginia had already seen more than 18 inches of snow.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was dealing with the snowstorm on her first full day on the job. She was sworn in Thursday afternoon.
The snow comes less than two months after a Dec. 19 storm dumped more than 16 inches on Washington. Snowfalls of this magnitude — let alone two in one season — are rare in the area. According to the National Weather Service, Washington has gotten more than a foot of snow only 13 times since 1870.
The heaviest on record was 28 inches in January 1922. The biggest snowfall for the Washington-Baltimore area is believed to have been in 1772, before official records were kept, when as much as 3 feet fell, which George Washington and Thomas Jefferson penned in their diaries.
In Washington, tourists made the best of it Friday, spending their days in museums or venturing out to see the monuments before the snow got too heavy.
A group of 13 high school students from Cincinnati was stranded in D.C. when a student government conference they planned to attend was canceled — after they had already arrived. So they went sightseeing.
At the Smithsonian's Natural History museum, Caitlin Lavon, 18, and Hannah Koch, 17, took pictures of each other with the jaws of a great white shark in the Ocean Hall.
"Our parents are all freaking out, sending texts to be careful," Koch said. "Being from Ohio, I don't think I've ever seen that much snow at once."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_winter_weather

That bit about the father and son getting killed while helping someone really upset me.


As for myself, I called my hospital's emergency snow line at 4:30 a.m. and am still waiting to see if I will be able to get safe transportation to work. I'd locked the house up properly last night before bed, but apparently my mother didn't bother ()to re-bolt the deadbolt when she opened the door after I'd left it, and when she got up to check the house this morning, the front door had been blown wide open So, heating the house back up. I've got my overnight bag packed because if I am able to make it to work today, I know there's no way I'm makin it home tonight.

[AndThePickles]

Aaaaand the National Guard just called me, looks like I'm goin to work.

[Aesop Rocks]

sorry, atp. :/

[Morg]

Looks like I'm going to work, crap. I'm in Ohio and I can't even see the road from my house it's all covered up. Going be fun

[KevanG]

Sounds bad, I'm in New Brunswick Canada and all we're expecting in the next few days is a few cm of snow.

[AndThePickles]

It took the National Guard 3 hours to get to my house this morning. Finally got to work, but wow, it's terrible outside.

[Docker2.0]

Bah! You guys don't have it bad. I'm in NJ. Period.

[MessiahDecoy123]

I used to love snow as a kid but now I can't stand the stuff.

My back hurts just looking at all the snow I have to shovel.

[AndThePickles]

Oh, and I got to ride in one of those big humvees lol

[Blindfighter]

its sunny here in michigan a place that should have a lot of snow but we have almost none were I live hahaha

[CashforStash]

Here in Ontario, theirs snow but not too much. But damn its freezing

[DarkReflections]

I hope RI doesn't get too much. I'm burnt out from all these snowstorms.

[THE MR. TERRIFIC]

I'm in MD and I have 20 inches on my deck so far.

[Sloth7d]

This is insane over here. I can't even get my door open, and don't think anyone else on my block has even tried. It's useless really; some of the snow got hard over night. That stuff ain't budging, either that or my gym membership was a waste of time lol.

[Spider-Who?]

Yup, I got nearly two feet of snow and counting. Its still snowing pretty heavily.

[Spidey-Bat]

I'm in NYC. Nothing. Just cold and windy.

[AndThePickles]

I lucked out with the hospital room I was assigned to stay the night in...managed to get the supervisor to assign me with a coworker, and it's in a new unit where we'll have a shower in our room.

[JP]

Where the hell is the snow in NYC?


LAME.

[Pythenis]

Originally Posted by Morg

Looks like I'm going to work, crap. I'm in Ohio and I can't even see the road from my house it's all covered up. Going be fun

Yea Morg I live in the snowbelt east of Cleveland I always chuckle when people not accustom to lager amounts of snow start to complain and panic, normal life here.

Great weather forcast: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=77c_1265470552

[Watson]

Originally Posted by Blindfighter

its sunny here in michigan a place that should have a lot of snow but we have almost none were I live hahaha

I'm right across the river in Windsor. It's actually really nice here for once

[Tanin]

I can make it out the door. But Barely.

[NotAHenchwench]

Originally Posted by AndThePickles

Aaaaand the National Guard just called me, looks like I'm goin to work.

National Guard escort, huh?

Sorry you had to work though. But it must be exciting to be snowed in!

We didn't get any snow up here.

[AndThePickles]

Originally Posted by NotAHenchwench

National Guard escort, huh?

Sorry you had to work though. But it must be exciting to be snowed in!

We didn't get any snow up here.

The National Guard part was pretty cool, aside from how uncomfortable the ride was.

It is not exciting to be snowed in when it's at work...at least not at a hospital. It just means extra work for the people who are stuck here. I'd rather sleep in my own bed than a hospital one!

[NotAHenchwench]

I'm just trying to be positive. :P

I'd love it if I got snowed in here at the Library. That would be so much fun!!! Books everywhere, computers... we'd make makeshift beds up in the stacks.

[AndThePickles]

That would be heaven on earth for me /nerdfo'life