bjarvis: (Lake Temiskaming)
bjarvis ([personal profile] bjarvis) wrote2009-12-21 10:25 pm
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The Snow Emergency is Over Already

OK, it was snowing very heavily in the greater DC area on Saturday so most sane people stayed home and many businesses were closed. Fair enough.

Sunday, the skies cleared but the streets were damn near impassible. Everything was closed. OK, reasonable.

Monday, most major streets were open and the highways were mostly clear. Yes, the side streets may have had only a single plowed lane and many bridges and streets were missing a half-lane because of snow banks, but it wasn't that bad. Yet nearly all schools, local governments and the federal government were closed along with many businesses. Huh? But wait, the worst is yet to come: our C2 square dance group meets in a school in Virginia so we couldn't dance Monday night!

This Tuesday, much of the snow will have been removed and a significant portion of what was left will have melted. But Baltimore schools will be closed again and thus the Chesapeake Squares have cancelled their club night!

Damn you, Mother Nature!

[identity profile] wescobear.livejournal.com 2009-12-22 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
It's pretty much the same situation here in Philly. I was amazed to hear at least four dozen school cancellations or delayed openings for tomorrow announced on the radio. Three days after the storm? WTF?

[identity profile] kent4str.livejournal.com 2009-12-22 02:44 pm (UTC)(link)
If there's only a narrow lane cleared the buses can't make the turns, so they can't pick the kiddies up. And if the sidewalks are anything like those here in downtown DC, they're not really safe to walk more than single-file on. So getting the little darlings to school could still be a problem.

And we don't really need that many more speed bumps.

[identity profile] snowboardjoe.livejournal.com 2009-12-22 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
Did they ever get around to un-burying the metro? I heard that might have been a major contributor to keep things closed until the entire transit system was operational again.

[identity profile] bjarvis.livejournal.com 2009-12-22 02:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Metro was was having difficulty keeping the third rail clear on Saturday; on Sunday, the below-ground stations were functioning. By Monday morning rush hour, the Metro was fully open although some of the open air parking lots were at reduced capacity because of snowbanks.

I'm not sure about the status of the bus routes. They were severely curtailed Saturday & Sunday but are likely fully back up again.

[identity profile] rsc.livejournal.com 2009-12-22 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Schools in the city of Boston were closed yesterday; they were open in all the surrounding municipalities. Did Boston get more snow than its suburbs? No, they just did a crappy job of plowing side streets, and they're making parents all over the city suffer for it.