Snow emergency

Yes, that's right: a snow emergency. For the second time this year (well, fiscal year, I suppose, since the first time was in 2009), the metropolitan DC area is in a state of snow emergency.

I'm not talking about 'ooh, look how scared the people are when snow starts falling'. This is 'huh. Didn't realize so much snow can fall in less than 24 hours. And why isn't it stopping?'

Just like last time (which was going on as I was flying to Washington for Christmas), we did have plenty of advance warning, which meant that starting on Tuesday, we were getting emails at work telling us how to prepare for the weather, reminding us that doctors are 'essential personnel' and thus may be snowed into the hospital, and discussions about closing clinics early on Friday.

I had business to do at Walter Reed yesterday morning (I'm currently on a rotation at NNMC), so I drove over early in order to take care of it before all the weather stuff started, and at that time (about 0630), there were already plows and salting trucks parked off the shoulder of the Beltway, on standby for when the snow started. Well, I got everything taken care of I needed to (I hope, anyway), and was again on the road, to head back home, around 0930. Fortunately, still no snow. I parked my car in my building's parking garage and then headed to the Metro station to go over to NNMC for work. I intentionally wore my Gor-Tex boots, knowing that the above-ground Metro stations (in other words, everything on my side of the Medical Center stop) close when there's more than eight inches of snow on the ground, and I figured if I had to walk home through the snow (it's only four miles), I should probably make sure my feet would be warm and dry as I did so.

The snow started around 1000, and I sent my med student home (something I really don't have the authority to do, but whatever), so he wouldn't get snowed in (doctors are essential personnel, med students are not). I tried to get all of my work done in a pretty efficient manner, so I could also get out at a reasonable time. Although I am 'essential', I wasn't scheduled to work over the weekend anyway, so getting snowed out of the hospital wouldn't cause any disruption of patient care. I wrapped everything up around 1400 and headed out, when the Metro was still open (I contemplated walking anyway, just for the experience, but having a cold, soaking wet beret on is never a pleasant thing). And then I proceeded to sit on the couch and watch the snow fall.

So now it's Saturday, and while I haven't been outside to verify this, the the news says that Rockville, MD has gotten more than eighteen inches, with another five to eight to fall throughout the day today. It's a little insane. The power was flickering last night, but it's holding strong so far today, so at least I know I have heat (and TV, and internet...)

Anyway, here are some pictures. Sorry about the low quality; they were taken on my phone through my window.

This is from last night, when it had already been snowing for ten or so hours.

And this is what I woke up to this morning. Don't know if you can tell or not, but there's a road at the bottom of the picture, Rockville Pike, which is a pretty major street. Other than the plows, I have seen one car on it this morning. It's a little insane.

I'm glad I had to go grocery shopping on Thursday anyway, because I'm pretty sure the state of panic translates to empty shelves in the stores (assuming the commissary is even still open in this mess).

Should be interesting to see if this clears enough for me to Metro to work on Monday, or if I'll be hoofing those four miles through the snow after all.