Pedestrian traffic only

The 17.4 inches of snowfall recorded at Reagan National Airport yesterday is was the fourth biggest snowstorm in DC’s history of officially recorded storms, the Washington Post says. That doesn’t count the 36 inches of snow the area received in 1722, recorded in the diaries of both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Of course, the District of Columbia wasn’t a district or the nation’s capital then, nor did the nation itself even exist. But our Founding Fathers were faithfully chronicling the Virginia weather with quill pens and sheepskin.

The worst officially recorded snowstorm was the 1922 Knickerbocker Storm, so named because it caused the collapse of the flat-roofed Knickerbocker Theater in Washington, killing 98 people.

From here in Capitol Hill, where the power lines are fortunately underground so that we still have power and heat, the 2010 Snowmageddon has been fun. Yesterday we ventured out on foot at midday. The streets had been plowed, somewhat, probably for the benefit of the firetrucks down the street. Everyone was walking in the street, even on Pennsylvania Avenue, as the sidewalks were impassable. An SUV would pass by only occasionally. Kids were sledding at the Capitol, and a lot of photographers were out. The Harris Teeter grocery store near Potomac Avenue was open, bless them. We didn’t make it to Dupont, but some 2,000 people celebrated there with a giant snowball fight.

The sunny weather today seems to have brought everyone out, digging out their cars and shoveling their sidewalks. We walked to Eastern Market, which was closed for the second day. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for skiing, if only you could get to a hill. It took Joe more than an hour to dig out our little car from the driveway, while I wisely opted to upload photos.

Tomorrow morning I’m scheduled to fly to Detroit, but BWI has cleared only one of its two runways as of this afternoon, so we shall see. The federal government is closed, so that should slow things down considerably. Besides that, more snow is possible Tuesday and Wednesday. Meanwhile, I hear Detroit is snow-deprived…

More of my photos on Flickr

The DC/MD/VA Snowpocalypse Flickr pool