Asia-Pacific
'Snowmageddon' blankets Mid-Atlantic in heavy snow
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-02-07 10:05
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 Two friends pause for a snapshot together amid the chaos of a massive snowball fight in DuPont Circle in Washington after an intense winter blizzard hit the nation's capital and much of the Mid Atlantic region, Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010. The snowball fight was promoted on Facebook and other social-networking sites. [Agencies] |
Meanwhile, cabin fever had set in for many of the patrons packed inside Bob and Edith's Diner in Arlington, Va.
"I couldn't take being in the house anymore," said Shaela Linn, 29, who walked with a roommate to the 24-hour restaurant about five blocks away. "We had fun, we played beer pong, made a fire, cooked dinner, but you can only take so much being inside."
Airlines canceled flights, churches called off weekend services, and Amtrak and commuter trains ground to a halt. Some people wondered if they would be stuck at home for several days.
At Dulles International Airport, part of a hangar roof collapsed and damaged some of the private jets housed inside, though no one was hurt. A northeast D.C. church also collapsed when a tree fell on it, though no one was inside and no one was hurt.
The snow comes less than two months after a Dec. 19 storm dumped more than 16 inches on Washington. Snowfalls of this magnitude — let alone two in one season — are rare in the area. According to the National Weather Service, Washington has gotten more than a foot of snow only 13 times since 1870.
The heaviest on record was 28 inches in January 1922. The biggest snowfall for the Washington-Baltimore area is believed to have been in 1772, before official records were kept, when as much as 3 feet fell, which George Washington and Thomas Jefferson penned in their diaries.
Despite the onslaught, some ventured outside for a chance to play. Snowballs were flying in normally bustling DuPont Circle, a major Washington thoroughfare. Hundreds of people gathered for a snowball fight with word spreading through Facebook, Twitter and TV commentators.
Carolyn Matuska, on the other hand, was loving the solitude during her morning run along Washington's National Mall.
"Oh, it's spectacular out," she said. "It's so beautiful. The temperature's perfect, it's quiet, there's nobody out, it's a beautiful day."
