which is the appellation given our current storm by the folks at the Capital Weather Gang, the weather blog of The Washington Post.
I live in the northern part of Arlington County, a jurisdiction just across the Potomac from DC, which contains both the Pentagon and the airport formerly known as Washington National. I am less than half a mile north of I-66. We are not one of the higher elevations in Arlington, nor are we all that hilly, although the light snowfall Wednesday evening caused major traffic problems in the immediate area.
Our house is on a corner, with our front on a street which is both a bus route and the main ambulance route to Virginia Hospital Center a few blocks away, where my wife was first hospitalized for her cancer. That means our front street is kept open — the plows have been by on a regular basis, more than half a dozen times already. Our driveway is on the side street, with the entrance less than 100 feet from the front street. I have parked the car just inside the public sidewalk. During most snow storms, even with a foot of snow, I can shovel every couple of hours and keep up with the storm and be able to get my car out in an emergency.
This storm is clearly different. Let me explain.
The first flakes began to fall shortly before 2 pm. At 10 PM I had 6 inches on the ground. I have been able to keep the snow off the car. But the winds have begun to pick up. I had last shoveled at 8, but by 10 the wind had caused the light fluffy snow to drift in. And we will have increasing winds for perhaps the next 6-10 hours, so the shoveling, except to get to the car and keep it clear, and to keep the two doorways clear, is a wasted effort. I have heard that in the next 4-5 hours we could get as much as 8-10 inches of additional snow as we get hit with the first heavy bands.
In the past, even in big storms when the plows did not come up Buchanan, if necessary I and a guy who lived across the street would shovel from the four driveways (two on each side close together) down to 16th. He has moved. I am approaching 70. Somehow I wonder if I will even try that this storm.
Of greater worry is one section of roof. We have a one-floor addition from the main house toward the driveway, with a roof with a very mild incline. So far this snow is fairly light, but if we approach 20 inches of snow, I have to worry about its integrity. There are a couple of snow rakes in the neighborhood, and I have already arranged to borrow one if necessary. in 2010 during Snowmaggedon I had to use it. I suspect I may borrow it sometime tomorrow before the accumulation gets to be too much.
If it does, which it may not. Knowing there is a possibility that we could lose power over night or tomorrow, I have the heat set to 78, and since that section of roof is less insulated, in fact there is less accumulation there than there is the ground next to it, perhaps 4 inches as of right now.
The Federal government has announced it is closed Monday. That is, the Executive branch. My wife technically works for the Congress, although in this case we suspect they will also close down. I am operating on the assumption schools will be closed at least Monday, and probably Tuesday as well. Fairfax County will not only have to plow parking lots of several hundred schools, but there are many subdivisions that will need to be cleared out before students will be able to get to buses.
That raises another problem. All of my classes are for Advanced Placement, and those exams are on fixed dates. I have to work to keep my kids moving forward. We only had one day of classes this week. Monday was the holiday, and Tuesday was a teacher work day. The weather had been bad enough that we were closed on Thursday, and as a precaution they did not open today. Thus I have only been in classes one day in the past 7. And since our classes meet every other day, I have a group of students I have not seen for a week.
I do online sessions when we are closed for weather. Since this year I am taking a somewhat “flipped” approach, with students watching brief videos (10-15 minutes_ and taking notes as the main part of their homework, I am able to keep moving forward, but I cannot require students to participate in the online sessions, nor can I grade the work that comes from it, unless I give lots of extra time to make it up. In the past two days I have had about ½ the students participate, which is not really enough. A majority of my students are seniors, and some are using the time to finish applying to colleges, which I can understand.
What if we lose power? It depends for how long. As long as the winds stay below 35 MPH the power company can use their cherry pickers. But there may be lines down where they cannot get their trucks through, not if we get more than 2 feet of snow. I expect that some of my students will not have power come Monday. Me? We have lost power several times in the 30 years we have lived here. It is worse in the summer, when we lose air conditioning, as we did for several days after the derecho a few years back. We have lost power in the winter before. The freezer and the freezer compartment in the refrigerator are both full, and as long as they remain closed they should be good for at least two days. We have a gas hot water heater and a gas stove, so I can cook, keep warm have some heat in the kitchen. I have plenty of blankets to help keep the cats warm. And by next week the temps will be going up into the 40s.
If the power goes out, I can always read a book. I have candles, I have flashlights (including several that are handcranked).
Leaves on the Current gets to miss all this. She is on the Outer Banks, where her major worry is the possibility of some coastal flooding. She was originally due to come back tomorrow, but will wait until at least midday on Sunday, and if her office is closed perhaps wait until Monday. One determination will be if I will be able to get her into the driveway — and that depends upon whether the County gets the side street cleared,, or if a group of us decide to clear it out on our own. We’ll see.
There is a neighborhood snowblower, and there are elderly people whose walks and in some cases their driveways get done. After that the next priority is the public sidewalks — since I have those on both sides of my corner lot, that would save me a good deal of labor, as the County ordinance requires that they be cleared within 24 hours after the snow stops falling.
Snowzilla — the weather system that is truly crippling the national capital area. We are possibly less than 1/3 of the way of what could be an historic event, lasting 36 hours.
The record snowfall in DC was 28” in 1922, known as the Knickerbocker strom, because the roof of a theater of that name collapsed. In those days snowfall was measured downtown. Nowadays it is officially measured at the airport, which since it abuts the Potomac, often in larger storms measures several inches less. Thus we are unlikely to officially break that record.
With drifting I may not be able to measure how much has fallen on our property. What I do know is that the total accumulation will not be a record for us: at the end of Snowmageddon I have 4 feet of snow in my backyard.
And now? All electronic devices, including a backup battery for my phone (which itself can be recharged from my computers are fully charged. The house is toasty. And the cats want attention and cuddles.
So for now all I can do is sit back and wait for Snowzilla to run its course.
Officially this storm is named Jonas.
Somehow I don’t think most people know that.
Peace.