Slushy Roads, Very Chilly Friday Morning In The District | WTOP News

WTOP/Ivy Lyons

WTOP/Jessica Kronzer

WTOP/Jessica Kronzer

WTOP/Jessica Kronzer

WTOP/Dave Dildine

Courtesy Nancy Holland

Courtesy Nancy Holland

Courtesy Nancy Holland

Courtesy Nancy Holland

WTOP/Dave Dildine

WTOP/Nick Iannelli

Key points:

• Snow stopped falling by 5 a.m. on Friday in the D.C. area.
• Most school systems closed Friday. See the closings and delays list.
• Between 2 and 5 inches fell in the D.C. metro area.
• Windy conditions will make it feel like it’s in the teens on Friday.

Those in the D.C. area might want to bundle up Friday as windchills have dropped feels-like temperatures into the teens after a night of snowfall that left between 2 and 5 inches on the ground by sunrise.

Here’s what you need to know.

Closings and Delays

The Washington Monument and Ford’s Theatre will be closed Friday.

National Zoo is closed. All D.C.-area Smithsonian museums are closed.

Arlington National Cemetery is closed. Funeral services will be conducted as scheduled.

Some school systems changed their status from opening late to closing. Among them are Montgomery, Howard, Frederick and Carroll counties in Maryland.

See the latest school closings and delays.

• Listen to WTOP online and on the radio at 103.5 FM or 107.7 FM.
• Current traffic conditions
• Weather forecast
• Closings and Delays
• Sign up for WTOP alerts

Snowfall totals

“Most of us saw 2 to 4 inches, but the jackpot was back in northern Montgomery County,” StormTeam4 meteorologist Mike Stinneford said. “Over 5 inches of snow fell around the Damascus area and portions of Frederick County, Maryland.”

“The big story today will be the gusty winds.”

Stinneford said the snow, for the most part, ended by 5 a.m.

In Fairfax County, Virginia, 4.2 inches of snow was recorded just before 3 a.m. Friday (it ended up at over 5 inches before 7 a.m.). Around the same time, Frederick County, Maryland reported 6 inches of snow on the ground, less than three hours since the first snowflake dropped.

Unlike the wet snow on Monday, Friday’s snow was fluffy.

“When I walked out my door, my ice scraper was too slow so I used a broom to clean my whole car,” WTOP’s Neal Augenstein said.

• Read more about the winter storm hitting the east coast
• PHOTOS: Encore! Snow blankets DC region again

WTOP has a complete list of snow totals online. But here are some of the recorded snowfall totals in the D.C. region Friday morning:

D.C.

• American University — 3.1 inches at 6:13 a.m.
• Adams Morgan — 2.5 inches at 6:40 a.m.
• Anacostia — 2.2 inches at 5:40 a.m.

Maryland

• Anne Arundel — 4.0 inches at 5:30 a.m.
• Allegany — 3.8 inches at 10:54 p.m.
• Baltimore — 5.0 inches at 6 a.m.
• Calvert — 1.4 inches at 6:30 a.m.
• Carroll — 3.8 inches at 3:15 a.m.
• Charles — 2 inches at 6:32 a.m.
• Frederick — 8 inches at 7 a.m.
• Harford County — 3.7 inches at 7:30 a.m.
• Howard — 4.5 inches at 6:20 a.m.
• Montgomery — 5.3 inches at 4 a.m.
• St. Mary’s — 1.5 inches at 7:30 a.m.
• Washington — 6.6 inches at 5 a.m.

Virginia

• Arlington — 3.0 inches at 5 a.m.
• Clarke — 2.5 inches at 12:10 a.m.
• City of Fredericksburg — 1.9 inches at 7:30 a.m.
• City of Winchester — 5.5 inches at 6 a.m.
• Fairfax — 5.3 inches at 6:45 a.m.
• Fauquier — 6 inches at 7:24 a.m.
• Frederick — 5.5 inches at 6 a.m.
• King George — 1 inch at 5:45 a.m.
• Highland — 7.0 inches at 11:33 p.m.
• Loudoun — 5.5 inches at 5 a.m.
• Page — 4.5 inches at 5:30 a.m.
• Prince William — 4.0 at 4:40 a.m.

The field across the street is a playground for the snow dog. ❄️ @WTOP pic.twitter.com/1pdk8PU4P7

— Nick Iannelli (@NickWTOP) January 7, 2022

Road conditions

WTOP Traffic reports the major highways are clear. Crews plowed the snow from shoulder to shoulder.

WTOP’s Nick Iannelli, who was driving in Maryland, said drivers will find slushy conditions and wet pavement.

Some areas are slick, such as side roads.

The Beltway in Montgomery County after snow not bad at all. @WTOP @WTOPtraffic pic.twitter.com/DPVP7yHqLf

— Nick Iannelli (@NickWTOP) January 7, 2022

The Virginia Department of Transportation reported the first snowflakes falling just after 10 p.m. Thursday in western Virginia. Earlier, the department urged everyone to avoid nonessential travel during the storm to give crews time to plow and apply treatment.

On Thursday, VDOT spokeswoman Kelly Hannon said tankers began pretreating Interstate 95 with a salt brine solution on Thursday morning. The Fredericksburg VDOT district reported that I-95 was cleared early Friday morning.

WTOP’s Neal Augenstein cautioned drivers that ramps could still be icy even though main roads were largely cleared early Friday.

Montgomery County’s department of transportation is asking drivers to hold off on traveling on residential streets. Though MCDOT crews plowed emergency routes and started clearing residential streets Friday morning, they had to return to addressing emergency routes because of snowdrift.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency Thursday, noting that the state’s resources are stretched thin from the previous storm that dumped up to 13 inches in some spots.

“We had … snow through the night and wrap up here just before daybreak,” D.C. Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Chris Geldart said. “That’s usually the type stuff that we see in the region here, which is much easier for us to deal with than what we had on Monday.”

Geldart said the District saw 8 inches of snow in four hours on Monday.

“That’s a lot harder to deal with, that will overcome any chemical you put down on the street, any salt, or brine.”

Mass transit and traffic

Metrobus: Some routes may not operate or experience longer wait times than usual due to a driver shortage. A moderate snow service plan is in place, in which service on some routes is suspended and detours will be in effect on certain routes to avoid areas prone to hazardous conditions, such as hilly terrain and narrow streets. Approximately 119 out of 183 routes will operate, Metro said.

Fairfax Connector: Operating regular schedule, but passengers should check for potential detours and allow for extra time.

Virginia Railway Express: Trains running on an S schedule.

MARC Train: Will operate Enhanced R schedule Friday.

MTA Maryland Commuter Bus: Some commuter bus routes will not operate, check online to see the affected routes.

RideOn: Operating as normal, but expect some weather-related delays and detours.

Fairfax Connector: Will operate as normal, with potential for delays and detours.

ART: Will operate limited weekday service on Friday. All routes will operate regular weekday schedules, but delays are possible and some routes will detour. Check for service alerts online.

Vango: VANGO will be operating on a three-hour delay Friday.

Loudoun Bus: Commuter Bus Service will not run Friday. Local fixed route bus services and the Loudoun County Courthouse Shuttle from the Pennington Garage and Lot to the Courthouse will operate as normal. The peak period metro connection bus service will not run but Local Fixed Routes 72, 84, and 985 provide service to the Wiehle-Reston East Metrorail Station.

PRTC OmniRide: No Express or Access service. East-West Express (96) — Delayed start of service. First bus departs OmniRide Transit Center at 8:15 a.m. OmniRide Local — Delayed start of service. There will be no OFF-ROUTE trips. Buses will operate along snow routing and stops with snowflake stickers won’t be served.

Forecast

In the wake of the storm, northwesterly winds of 15 to 30 mph will bring cold and dry air into the area Friday, leading to sunshine. However, highs will only reach the lower to mid-30s, and it will feel like the teens and 20s with the gusty winds.

Friday: Becoming sunny, windy and cold after snowfall. Highs in the upper 20s to low 30s.

Friday Night: Clear skies with a breezy and bitter cold. Lows in the teens.

Saturday: Mostly sunny and cold but with less wind. Highs in the low to upper 30s.

Sunday: Risk of sleet and freezing rain early. Rain arriving in the afternoon whole ending as snow by midnight. Highs in the low to mid-40s.

Monday: Mostly sunny, windy and cold. Highs in low to mid-30s.

Current weather

Outages

Days after Monday’s storm, around 30,000 homes and businesses throughout the D.C. area are still waiting for the lights — and heat — to come back on. Most of the lingering power outages are in Northern Virginia.

Dominion Energy reports about 9,000 customers in Northern Virginia still don’t have their power back. The company blames the prolonged outages on heavily-damaged power equipment.

The Rappahannock Electric Cooperative says more than 21,000 customers are still in the dark in the counties in Northern Virginia that the cooperative serves. In Charles County, Maryland, about 600 SMECO customers are without power.

Peggy Fox, a spokesperson for Dominion, said power should be back for most customers they service today, while some might not get electricity until tomorrow. She said wet snow falling quickly on branches, particularly in wooded areas, damaged trees and caused some lines to fall or criss-cross and some poles to break.

“The damage is just much greater than we realized in the beginning and we are doing everything we can but it just it just takes time to get trees moved out of roads that we need to access to move limbs and get things off,” Fox said.

“It’s just been a very, very difficult situation with really widespread damage in some areas.”

Fox said Dominion has 4800 employees and an additional 900 utility workers from other nine different working to restore power. But

So far, Friday’s storm hasn’t caused any major outages, although there are about 500 customers without power in Montgomery County this morning.

Testing, vaccination sites close or delayed opening

The Virginia Department of Health closed five of its Community Vaccination Centers Friday. VDH said those with appointments will be notified of the cancellations.

The centers in Charlottesville, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Prince William and Roanoke will be closed Friday. VDH said it will decide on Friday whether to open the closed sites on Saturday.

Several testing sites in Maryland delayed their opening times Friday, the Maryland Department of Health said.

The following sites will be open noon until 6 p.m.:

• Annapolis on the corner of Bladen and Calvert streets;
• Anne Arundel Medical Center; Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center;
• UM Upper Chesapeake Health;
• City of Praise Family Ministries;
• UM Laurel Alternate Care Site Testing Site.

Due to the anticipated winter storm, the Maryland Department of Health said that some MDH testing and vaccination sites will delay their opening times Friday and will be open from noon to 6 p.m.

D.C. also has some testing sites open for residents, though proof of D.C. residency is required to get tested.

Here are today’s walk-up PCR testing and Test Yourself Express At-Home Rapid Antigen Test pickup sites. pic.twitter.com/m2TlWoFgC7

— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) January 7, 2022

WTOP’s Abigail Constantino, Zeke Hartner and Alejandro Alvarez contributed to this report.

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