Icy Conditions Cause School Closings, Delays

The icy patches did not seem likely to affect commuter routes, according to officials who monitor roads and traffic for state highway officials. While they cautioned that there could be problems they were unaware of on little-used back roads, they said early morning monitoring showed no difficulties.

"We have had very, very few calls for any icy complaints," said Cecile McCusker, a supervisor with the Virginia transportation department's Smart Traffic Center. "The roads are dry and we are doing fine. Citizens aren't calling in here."

Early this afternoon, temperatures in the region hovered in the low to mid 30s. But a high temperature of 44 degrees is expected this afternoon.

The warmer temperatures will help melt the ice, which is why school officials in many jurisdictions decided to push their opening times back by an hour or two. The decision also means school buses and carpools do not have to share the roadway with the bulk of the morning commute.

"Sunlight is our ally. Let's get the sun up," Langley, the Calvert official said. "It was about student safety and staff safety. That's what this decision was about."

Although the mercury will slide below freezing again tonight, forecasts for this weekend and next week are increasingly spring-like, with highs climbing into the 50s and -- by Tuesday -- the low 60s.

The actual snowfall was minimal in the Washington region yesterday, despite widespread predictions of a significant storm. The first flakes starting swirling at 5 a.m., then tapered off, only to return in the afternoon for several hours. In the metropolitan area, two inches fell in Vienna, 1.4 inches in Sterling, and 1.3 at Reagan National Airport.

David Manning, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Sterling, said this was the typical pattern of an Alberta Clipper, a kind of low-snow snowstorm that forms over the prairie provinces of Canada.

"They bring us a quick shot of snow, and then they're out of here," he said.

Total accumulation was much larger outside the metropolitan area, in mountainous areas to the west and north. The weather service reported snowfall totals of eight inches in Cumberland, Md., and 10 inches in Frostburg, Md.

Throughout the region, temperatures stayed below freezing all day -- reaching highs of 30 degrees at Dulles International Airport and 28 at National. But in many places, snowflakes melted on contact with warmer surfaces such as roads and sidewalks. Around the White House, for instance, the grass of Lafayette Square had a powdered-sugar dusting, but surrounding streets were clear.

Some school systems, including those in Anne Arundel, Howard, Fauquier, Frederick and Loudoun counties, closed for the day in anticipation of the storm. Others, in Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties, closed early. But most Washington area schools kept to their normal schedules.

Staff writers Bill Brubaker and Eric Weiss contributed to this report.