Few serious weather-related hassles were reported on the area's highways this morning with the main impact of the snow being delayed school openings and some cancellations.
Among the school systems delaying opening by two hours were those of the District, Prince George's County, Frederick County, Calvert County, Fairfax County, Prince William County and Loudoun County. Among the systems closed for students are Anne Arundel County, St. Mary's County, Stafford County, Spottsylvania County and Fauquier County.
Arturo Zelaya, left, and Tito Bonilla clear a sidewalk at Sulgrave Manor Apartments on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest Washington. Zelaya and Bonilla were among those who were out not for pleasure but for pay.
(Tetona Dunlap -- The Washington Post)
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Local Transportation: Washington Post Staff Writers Steve Ginsberg and Lyndsey Layton field your questions, feel your pain and share the drama of getting from Point A to Point B.
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Montgomery and Howard County schools were already set to be closed for classes but open for professional activities. Charles County schools are closed for semester break.
Coping with four to seven inches of snow Saturday and frigid temperatures and icy wind chills that continued today, officials in Maryland, Virginia and the District declared victory in their first big tussle with winter this season and were confident that most, if not all, primary commuter routes were cleared well before the morning rush hour and that Metro and MARC trains would run on schedule.
"We feel like we did a fine job," said Tom Orr, chief of highway maintenance in Montgomery County, where major snow-removal operations wrapped up yesterday afternoon. Like the others, Orr's crews fought wind gusts yesterday that blew powdery snow back onto cleared roads, forcing sand trucks to revisit some streets.
"That's the only complication," said Valerie Edgar, spokeswoman for the Maryland State Highway Administration. Although interstate highways were ready for this morning's commute, Edgar said, she could not guarantee a trouble-free drive. "Depending on the wind, it could take our nice piles of snow and push them back on the roads."
Officials in Virginia and the District also reported wind-related problems yesterday.
"The main streets should be clear, and we're working on making many of the neighborhood streets passable," said Bill Rice, spokesman for the D.C. Department of Transportation. "We'll see how much of it blows back." (Some streets around the Mall will be closed during the day for an anti-abortion march.)
In Virginia, snow-removal crews were scheduled to work until 8 a.m. today clearing major commuting arteries and making subdivision roads passable, said Joan Morris, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
"Our focus is getting those icy patches sanded and finishing up the subdivisions in Northern Virginia," Morris said. "Our goal all along has been to get the roads in good shape for rush hour."
Morris said the department hoped to clear 16,000 miles of major roads in Northern Virginia and 7,000 miles of residential streets.
"Residents have high expectations, but we're going to make the roads passable in the subdivisions," she said. "It would be extraordinarily expensive and time-consuming to clear all subdivisions down to pavement."
Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the transit system predicted no train delays today. "The biggest challenge will be Metro buses that will need to get into some side streets," she said. MARC commuter trains also are expected to run on schedule, on all three lines, spokesman Richard Sher said.
For today's commuters, staying warm might be the only problem.
