Broken Record

Wednesday's 'Snowverkill' storm dumped another foot of snow on the area, and set a new record for the snowiest winter in DC history. The old record of 54.4 inches was set in 1899. So far this winter, National Airport has received 55.9 inches of snow -- and the winter is far from over! Most of the major mid-Atlantic cities have set new records -- and these are all cities that normally get less than 2 feet of snow in an entire season.

Washington D.C. Dulles Airport, VA - 75.0"
Old record: 61.9", Winter of 1995-1996

Baltimore, MD - 79.9"
Old record: 62.5", Winter of 1995-1996

Wilmington, DE - 66.7"
Old record: 55.9", Winter of 1995-1996

Philadelphia, PA - 71.6"
Old record: 65.5", Winter of 1995-1996

Atlantic City, NJ, 49.9"
Old record: 46.9", Winter of 1966-1967

You'll notice that 95-96 was a pretty snowy winter as well. That happened to be my very first winter here, so I've definitely compensated for the 25 snow-free years I lived in California. Of course, back then I lived in an apartment with a bunch of friends and didn't own a car, so there was a lot more fun and a lot less shoveling...

Anyway, back to the present. I entitled this post "Broken Record" because a) we broke a record (duh), and b) the weather forecasters are saying -- once again -- that we may get MORE snow on Monday. Most kids in the area haven't been to school since last Thursday, so some school districts have considered canceling the President's Day holiday on Monday so they won't have to make up as many days at the end of the school year. However, depending how much snow we get Monday, the schools may have to close again on Tuesday. It's a mess!

Yesterday was sunny with a high of 40, so we did see a little melting, but with all this snow it could be in the 80's for a week and still not get rid of all of it. With all the melting and re-freezing, most houses have some serious icicles hanging from the eaves. The McMansion two doors down looks particularly menacing.
Icicles are often a sign that a house is poorly insulated and losing heat through the roof, which is probably why so many of the older homes in this neighborhood are covered with icy spikes. However, this house was just built last year, so you'd think that wouldn't be an issue. I'm glad I didn't hire this builder to renovate my house! You'll notice there are hardly any icicles hanging off our roof. The few spots where we do have them are near the solatubes and skylight, which create small patches of uninsulated space in an otherwise tightly sealed envelope.

Josh has done most of the shoveling in all these storms, but asked me to clear the snow off the front porch. You'd think after having to brush all the snow off after the last storm I'd bring in all the cushions from the porch furniture before the next one -- but no. So yesterday I had to do it all over again. Fortunately, they are all covered with Sunbrella fabric, so the snow and water just brushes off, but I did have to shovel a couple inches of snow off the porch, too.
When I was done, I hung out in Josh's snow cave, which is even bigger now as he had to pile all the fresh snow from the driveway on top of it. If Josh had been wearing his snow pants, we could have both easily sat in there together with room to spare.
Here's Josh wishing he could hang out in the snow cave with me.
Our street has been plowed, but only enough for one car to drive down it at a time. There's a huge mountain of snow at one end and a massive berm at the other, so even if you could make it out of your driveway, it would be tough to turn onto another street once you got to either end of the block. So even though our car is clean and the driveway is shoveled, we probably won't be trying to drive anywhere for a while.
We took a quick walk to see how the neighbors were faring. Josh has likened the sidewalks to a hamster habitrail. There's a wall of snow at least 2 feet high on either side, and very limited options for getting across the street. It's pretty challenging to wade through knee-deep snow, so if you hit a patch of sidewalk that hasn't been shoveled, you have to detour onto the street. As of yesterday afternoon, most of the streets in our neighborhood had not yet been plowed. We're not sure why our little street gets priority, but we're certainly not going to question it!
We both worked from home yesterday, so after being cooped up in the house with our laptops for most of the day (except for a brief afternoon shoveling session), we decided to walk to one of our neighborhood restaurants for dinner. We weren't the only ones who had that idea, because just about every restaurant we passed was packed. The first one we went to had a 30-minute wait for a table, so we went to a more casual place across the street with only a 10-minute wait. I guess the fact that our neighborhood is Metro-accessible and has several covered parking garages makes it a prime destination for those suffering from cabin fever, even if they're not within walking distance. I was actually looking forward to the peace & quiet of our house by the time we walked home.

I normally work from home on Mondays and Fridays, so I had a dentist appointment scheduled for 10 am this morning. I briefly considered going into the office afterwards, since Metro was supposed to resume their above-ground service today, but decided I'd rather spend the commute time working, as I had a lot of work I needed to get done early in the day. Josh headed for the Metro a little after 8 am as he was expecting an important FedEx delivery at the office. He called me at 9 am to say that the station was so crowded he couldn't even get to the platform, let alone on a train, so he was heading back home. I called the dentist's office and explained that based on Metro and traffic reports there was no way I could get downtown in time for my appointment, so I had to reschedule for mid-March. After weighing his options -- cab, driving, trying Metro again later -- Josh hopped on his bike and finally reached his office a little after 10 am.

I'm glad I decided to work from home today. I got a lot done this morning before most people probably even made it into the office. According to the Washington Post, the morning commute was a "nightmare." Not only was the Metro completely overwhelmed, but a train derailed downtown shortly after 10 am (right near my dentist's office). Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but it caused even more delays on the already overtaxed system. Meanwhile, poorly plowed roads and huge piles of snow apparently made driving just as frustrating. One of the partners Josh works with, who lives about 10 minutes from us, said it took him 2 hours to drive to work today. (It normally takes Josh 15-20 minutes on his bike!) Another partner gave up halfway there and went back home.

Telecommuting beats the pants off commuting any day of the week -- but this week in particular, it was a godsend.

Josh and I were invited to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies at the Canadian embassy this evening (well, Josh was invited -- I'm his "and guest"), so we will be trying our luck with the Metro later today. Hopefully it won't be so bad as we'll be going against the commute, but we still plan to give ourselves plenty of extra time to get there. Wish us luck...