Adamp and persistent snowstorm moved through the Washington area yesterday -- too feeble to coat most major roadways but strong enough to prompt school closings and in many places seize the title as this anemic winter's biggest snowfall.
The daylong storm left two to six inches of wet snow across the region, the heaviest accumulations east and south of the District. For most daytime commuters, though, much of it seemed to turn to water when it hit warm road surfaces.
At the FDR Memorial, local photographer Jean-Louis Monfraix makes use of an umbrella to prepare the president for his close-up.
(Robert A. Reeder -- The Washington Post)
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Traffic accidents mounted as temperatures dropped a bit later in the day, briefly closing a section of northbound George Washington Memorial Parkway last night and earlier closing Route 9 temporarily in Loudoun County. Officials cautioned that freezing temperatures overnight could cause perilous driving conditions this morning.
As of late last night, public schools in Calvert, Anne Arundel and Stafford counties had canceled today's classes. D.C. schools said they will open two hours late.
Many got some time off yesterday as well, as federal government workers and some area college students were dismissed early.
Although the snow seemed to bring out more umbrellas than ski caps and only a smattering of snow plows, it was a reminder that, despite recent springlike temperatures, winter is not over. Brandywine, in southern Prince George's County, had 5.3 inches by early afternoon, while the accumulation at Reagan National Airport didn't reach two inches until 5 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
"We've had big snows in March, so don't be fooled," said Richard D. Hitchens, a forecaster and hydrologist at the Weather Service's Baltimore-Washington office in Sterling. "We've got a little while to go for winter to officially be over."
Today was expected to be partly sunny and cold, Hitchens said, with a high in the mid-30s. More precipitation is expected early next week, he said, but it's not clear whether it will come as rain or snow.
Yesterday's snow, which at one point stretched from eastern Kentucky to Cape Cod, began very lightly, around 3 a.m. locally, Hitchens said. Many streets were merely wet by the morning rush hour, but the forecast for a full day of precipitation forced most schools in the District and the Maryland and Virginia suburbs to cancel classes.
The recent high temperatures helped keep the snow from sticking on road surfaces, Hitchens said. As recently as Monday, the high was 58, and several days last week saw temperatures in the 50s and 60s.
Transportation experts said the same heat-soaking properties that make summer pavement hot on bare feet hold true in winter. Even as air temperatures stayed below freezing throughout yesterday, road surfaces retained the warmth of the days before.
But continuing cold reverses the trend, and officials worried that some roadways could be icy and treacherous by this morning.
Hitchens said that before yesterday the season's total snow accumulation, as measured at National, was just 6.6 inches. He said seasonal snowfall in the area is highly variable. He noted that during the Presidents' Day holiday two years ago, a storm dumped 25 inches on the area and helped push the seasonal total to 40 inches. The total the year before was just more than three inches, he said.
Most schoolchildren were off yesterday, making the snow a headache for many parents.
