It’s supposed to snow 16 to 24 inches Friday and Saturday, which would be the first time since 1986 that DC has received two snowstorms of 10 inches or more in a winter. (We got 16 inches on Dec. 19, which seem to have been enjoyed by everyone, as it brought Christmas vacation early. Except perhaps for that cop who pulled a gun in a snowball fight.)

And even though the first snowflake has yet to fall, and even though the 6 inches of snow we were supposed to get Wednesday turned into only 2 inches, yet schools were still canceled outside the district, PANIC is gripping the city. Our local Safeway was more insane than usual tonight, with people buying jugs of water and cases of beer. Tomorrow’s business meetings are being canceled, and federal government workers are on unscheduled leave, meaning, I guess, that they can have the day off if they can’t make it in. Channel 9 is teaching people how to shovel snow (You have to get under the snow with the shovel, apparently.)

The National Weather Service says, “A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW… SLEET…AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FRIDAY NIGHT.”

All right, we have our boots and coats, though we left the snow shovel in Michigan. We can walk to the grocery store. We have enough alcohol to last the weekend, or at least 48 hours. Good luck to all of you!