February 08, 2010

Going for a Record

U Street unders Snow

The record snow that accumulated this weekend brought us out to snowball fights and sledding in Meridian Hill Park.  With few stores open and few roads passable, Saturday was a true holiday in the old-fashioned sense.

Howard University Hospital’s groundskeeper was out in heartbeat clearing the hospital’s sidewalks while contractors cleared the hospital’s parking lot. Pretty impressive!

Neighbors dug their cars out of snow and the usually busy Florida Avenue carried more pedestrians then automobiles. The District government sent numerous plows along U Street and Florida Avenue, largely neglecting (understandably) the quiet streets of LeDroit Park.

Plowing U Street

You didn’t need a 4×4 to get around this weather. These two girls found that a daddy-powered sled was the most convenient form of transportation.

Sibling Transit

In Dupont Circle, hundreds of people gathered for a snowball fight. We caught the end of it:

Mêlée du Pont

Is a white Hummer camouflaged when it’s in the snow? These snowballers were able to spot and pelt it.

Hummer-Bashing

This Suburban sped away as soon as the light turned green.

Run, SUV, Run

For cars in LeDroit Park, Fourth and Fifth Streets are passable, but the east-west streets are better left to the four-wheel-drives.

More snow is expected Tuesday night and during the day on Wednesday. Were Pres. William McKinley still alive today, he would not only argue the merits of a gold standard with Rep. Ron Paul, but would also scoff at this relative “dusting”.  Though we’ve recorded 45 inches so far this winter, the winter of 1898-99, during McKinley’s administration, set the city’s record, dumping a total of 54.4 inches on the capital!

If you’re tired of the snow, be glad you don’t live in Québec City, which suffers 124 inches of snow each winter… on average!

Categories: Diversions, History, Safety & Order, Transportation
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  1. […] came to Washington, DC, and they came intensely, year after year. In the beginning, the storms were greeted with joy and public gathering from the citizenry. Then the snows became more relentless, each winter bringing more feet of white powdery stuff, and […]

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