Updates: D.C. commuters back to work after blizzard

We’ve had three days of melting, but there’s still a lot of snow on some of our roads and many areas are wet with runoff. Now temperatures will drop below 32 degrees this evening, which means slushy, untreated roads and sidewalks run the risk of refreezing after sunset.

Temperatures drop below freezing immediately after sunset in our colder north and west areas, and by 7 p.m. downtown. Extra caution should be taken on the evening commute. Temperatures will continue to drop into the teens and low 20s overnight, so the Thursday morning commute will also be affected.

We’re not expecting widespread treacherous travel — many of the busiest roads have been well-treated with chemicals and afternoon winds have helped to dry things out a bit. But some areas may still see problems.

See the full story.

Yes, folks, it’s come to this — we’ve got so much snow to clear that even Florida is pitching in to help.

As part of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), Florida’s Division of Emergency Management is sending 15 dump trucks and 31 state employees to help with D.C.’s cleanup.

But the folks in the Sunshine State are clever. Not wanting to pass up on a marketing opportunity, those trucks will be wrapped with a friendly message that bears the image of a hitchhiking snowman holding a sign that proclaims: “Florida bound.”

Read the full story.

Traffic creeps along Pennsylvania Avenue and 26th Street in Northwest Washington on Wednesday. (Luz Lazo/The Washington Post)

Metrorail will continue to operate on a modified schedule Thursday, with trains running every eight minutes on each line. Bus service will be upgraded with all routes in service, but snow detours remain in effect.

Capital Bikeshare bikes, snowbound. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post)

Capital Bikeshare is now offering limited service at some stations in the District, Arlington and Alexandria.  Officials with the D.C. Department of Transportation said service resumed at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. However, users should be aware that not all the stations are available, and riders are urged to check the station map and the Spotcycle App for a list of active stations.

And now, it’s time to dig out the bike lanes

The bike system in Montgomery County is expected to remain closed through Thursday, while Capital Bikeshare staffers continue to clear snow from the stations. Bike stations will open on a rolling basis, officials said.

Bikeshare shuttered as staffers focus on digging out

During the period of limited service, Capital Bikeshare will not rebalance its stations. Instead, it will focus on getting all the stations back to service. Also, riders won’t be able to return a bike at a docking station that has not been cleared for service.

Montgomery County Public School buses, buried in the snow in Bethesda. ( Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

Dear residents, it’s time to shovel your sidewalk.

That’s the message from Montgomery County Executive Isaiah Leggett: For those who have already cleared their walks, I say ‘Thank you.’ For those who haven’t, now is the time.

Because of the severity of the snow — more than two feet of snow in parts of the county — Montgomery County has been flexible with any enforcement of the law, which requires residents to clean-up within 24 hours of the end of the storm.  But Leggett said the county will be accepting complaints about snow-covered sidewalks starting 10 a.m. Thursday.

And then they may lower the boom.

“Four days after the storm, our streets are passable and being improved,” Leggett said in a statement. “This is important so that schoolchildren are not walking in the street, so that seniors can get where they need to go, and so that all pedestrians and commuters using Ride On and Metro can get around safely.”

The view at the end of a cul-de-sac on Meadowland Terrace in Montgomery County’s Olney neighborhood. Neighbors say a county plow has not come through as of Wednesday afternoon. They said they used shovels to make one lane out onto the road. (Steve Schecter)

Steve Schecter, who is an information technology specialist for the federal government and lives in Olney in Montgomery County, said he isn’t too pleased with the county’s performance in plowing streets.

He and about 10 other neighbors who live at the end of a cul-de-sac on Meadowland Terrace have spent between seven and eight hours over the past few days digging the street out from what they said is 30 inches of snow.

They said at one point the county’s snow map shows that their part of the street had been plowed at least once by a county plow, but they said in fact it has not been. And they’ve got the pictures to prove it.

What’s been dug out is enough to allow one car to pass through, Schecter said. And it has been done by hand with shovels – no county plows involved, he said.

To be sure, he said someone did appear to hire a private snow plow that came down part of the street Monday night, but he said the entire street still hasn’t seen a county plow.

“I’m extremely frustrated,” Schecter said. “It’s ridiculous.”

“There’s no reason why we should be shoveling the street,” he said. “There’s no reason why the county should not have been ahead of the snow.

“I understand this is a record snowfall for this area, but if they knew they weren’t going to have enough people and enough equipment they should have started contracting out ahead of the storm.”

County officials have said they are working as fast as possible to get side and residential streets plowed, and crews are working long shifts. County Executive Ike Leggett had pledged that all county neighborhood roads would receive a snow plow pass by 7 a.m. Wednesday. However, County officials maintain that curl-de-sac’s are private property similar to driveways and should be taken care of by people or Homeowners’ Associations (HOA’s).

Schecter said he has lived on the street for four years and many of his neighbors who have lived there for longer said the street is well known for not getting plowed as fast as others. Why? Lots of theories but nothing concrete as to why that is.

It has been a lot of back and forth for Schecter.

On Tuesday afternoon, he said a neighbor called the 311 line to say the street hadn’t been plowed. At that time, the county’s map showed that it had been started. Then Leggett made the 7 a.m. Wednesday promise.

But Wednesday at 5:30 a.m. when Schecter got up it still had not been plowed. He called the 311 line at 8 a.m. and at 8:30 a.m. Meanwhile, the map showed the road had been “complete” meaning it was plowed.

Not the case, Schecter said, as he showed pictures of his street piled with snow on Wednesday.

The operator for the county said the information would be passed on to a depot. And when he asked about an estimated time of arrival she said if not today then no later than Thursday.

“I said there is no way the residents will wait until tomorrow,” he said. Already they had shoveled a portion of the street for one car to get through and many planned to go out again Wednesday afternoon and shovel more.

On Wednesday, Patrick Lacefield, a spokesman for the county, said the street had been plowed.

“We checked the trucks and the trucks had made a pass there, that street, they made a pass there before 7 a.m.,” Lacefield said.

Schecter disagreed. He said “that’s not the case.” He said he had just come in from shoveling around 2 p.m. and there’s still no sighting of a county plow.

Schecter said he thinks the discrepancy is because the trucks are likely at the end of the block and may see that part of the street was done by a private plow but they’re not coming all the way down to see that the cul-de-sac has not been done.

“They’re not taking their truck all the way down to where the circle ends,” Schecter said. “Just drive down there and look. It’s not done.”

For Schecter, Washington — and the county’s reaction — is different from where he has lived.

“I’m from Chicago,” Schecter said. “We elect mayors out of office if they don’t clear the snow in a timely fashion.”

After seeing no government-dispatched plow for days, Diane Thomas and her neighbors on Allanwood Drive area decided to free themselves.

The retired insurance worker, 65, joined a plumber, a school worker, a legal administrator and a rotating crew of more than a dozen other neighbors, who spent most of Tuesday shoveling so they’d be unbound by Wednesday’s commute.

It was good for neighborhood bonding but bad for her view of the way her local government, Montgomery County, functions.

“If we could have trusted them and believed that by 7 a.m. the road would have been clear, we wouldn’t have done that,” Thomas said of the heavy labor in their Norwood Park-area community.

Neighbors shoveling Allanwood Drive in Montgomery County. (Diane Thomas)

She cleared the street in front of three houses, and others took other sections of the block. Neighbors repeatedly sent in requests for county plowing, but they didn’t receive a response, she said.

“You’re going, ‘I don’t know if they’re coming our not. We don’t know if we’re forgotten,'” she said.

It was not a theoretical concern. One neighbor on an adjoining street reachable only through Allanwood Drive needed to get home because she ran out of medicine. Another was flying back in from a trip and didn’t know whether she’d be able to reach her home.

Thomas said she understands that, given the rarity of such snow dumps, it wouldn’t make sense to keep a vast fleet of county-run plows on hand. Still, she said she had never been stranded so long before. “Oh heck no. I’ve lived in Buffalo, I’ve lived in Denver, I’ve lived in Chicago,” she said.

Thomas also believed the “plow status” for her street, listed on a county website Wednesday as “1^st Pass Compete,” was wrong, since the neighbors were the ones who did the work. But even if a plow came through overnight with no one noticing, she said, the county still fell short.

“Why aren’t you communicating better?” she asked. “Whenever you have a crisis of any sort it’s critical that you communicate clearly with the public, and that’s where the county is failing miserably.”

A Montgomery spokesman, Patrick Lacefield, said “we did do a first pass before this morning” on Allanwood Drive and another is scheduled for later Wednesday.

Jonathan “Stoney” Johnstone, who lives in Montgomery’s Argyle Village neighborhood, said his neighborhood was forgotten.

“It’s kind of a makeshift, one-way road, and it was done by us,” he said. Some neighbors said a few people used two snowblowers to clear off part of the street.

“I’m not happy … I’m paying like $4,500 a year in real estate taxes,” said Johnstone, a keyboardist and bassist in a Who tribute band called Going Mobile. He called the county’s plowing efforts “totally unacceptable.”

“This community seems to have just dropped off the radar of Montgomery County. This is not he first time this has happened,” he said.

Lacefield said two things happened in Johnstone’s neighborhood.

First, “we had a truck there to plow, which broke down,” and had to be pulled out. Second, snow cleared by neighbors or their contractor was piled up. “They cleared a bunch of the stuff and it was in the middle of the road, and it’s not just a plowing job at this point. It’s also a hauling job,” requiring a Bobcat and truck, Lacefield said. Workers were headed there Wednesday afternoon, he added.

Lacefield said the county had performed well trying to make the streets at least passable.

“We did pretty good at meting the 7 a.m. goal,” Lacefield said. But, he added, with 5,200-lane miles to cover, some oversights were inevitable. “We’re taking down addresses and sending out plows immediately to mop those up.”

Lacefield also said the criticism that the county did not confirm plow-arrival times to residents beforehand was misplaced.

“If people want information back that a plow will be there by 9 p.m., they’re not going to get that. If that’s the expectation, nobody got that,” Lacefield said. “We’ve got our 218 routes and drivers working 24/7. They’re going to get there as fast as they can.”

Adults and children traverse piles of snow and slush puddles in Columbia Heights on Tuesday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Good news for residents who live in Columbia Heights — they’ve have an additional day to take advantage of a special $1 day parking deal at the DC USA shopping center.

Borderstan reports that the deal, which began Friday was set to end Wednesday evening when the city lifts the snow emergency. But D.C. Council member Brianne Nedeau (D-Ward 1) wrote in an email to residents that they can park for the $1 a day rate through 11 p.m. Thursday.

As Borderstan noted, during the snow emergency residents weren’t able to leave their cars parked on a good portion of the roads in the Northwest Washington neighborhood, including Georgia Avenue, 16th Street, U Street and sections of Park Road, Kenyon Street, Irving Street, Columbia Road, Harvard Street, Florida Avenue and Ninth Street. If they did, they risked being towed and fined.

Under the agreement, residents could take their parking ticket to the shopping center’s parking office to have their name and license plate recorded by the attendant. When they left the garage, they had to present the same ticket.

Plenty of Metro riders have debated whether Metro should have — or should not have — stayed open in the weekend’s blizzard. Here’s a look back at what the agency did in 1996.

Early that January, the region was sacked by what was called “the biggest snowstorm in at least a decade,” when two feet of snow was piled onto the area. The government shut down as did the schools and the Smithsonian museums.

Metro kept running, but it had “repeated difficulties with trains and buses, as well as breakdowns of escalators and elevators,” said a Washington Post story from Jan. 8, 1996. And the agency shut down some above-ground stations because of blowing snow.

[Metro crash capped run of mishaps]

There were at least three deaths that were linked to that January storm, the article said. And one involved a Metro train operator who was killed when a train rammed a park train.

The top of one story on Jan. 9, 1996, read —

Some Metro employees suggested yesterday that the death of a 48-year-old Metro train operator Saturday could have been prevented if the train had been traveling at a slower speed into the Shady Grove station before it crashed into a parked train.

A Capital Bikeshare station after the blizzard. (Luz Lazo/ The Washington Post)

Much of the region’s bike infrastructure is still buried in snow four days after Snowzilla hit the Washington area. Many of the region’s 350-plus Capital Bikeshare stations are being dig out, and piles of snow are blocking bike lanes. So if you bike regularly, advocates and transportation officials are warning it could be several days before the infrastructure is back to normal.

“Don’t count on the bike facilities being clear,” said Daniel Hoagland, programs director at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. “If you are going to bike, you have to make a choice between open roadways or sidewalks. It’s chaotic.”

If you are planning to go out for a bike ride this week— not that many people are — keep in mind the conditions of the road and sidewalks. Many pedestrian walkways aren’t clear and others are so narrow because of the mounds of snow that they can’t handle both pedestrians and bicyclists.

In an email to the bike community on Monday, the city’s bike coordinator said it could be a few days before all the protected lanes are clear.

“Clearing bicycle facilities in the blizzard proved to be a challenge due to the conditions and the amount of snow,” the officials, Jim Sebastian, explained. On Saturday there was too much snow for the equipment to move in the narrower bike lanes, he said. But crews did manage to clear much of the Metropolitan Branch Trail and the Pennsylvania Avenue cycle track, he said.

To read more of the story go here.

A front-loader dumps snow at the intersection of Pennsylvania and New York avenues in Northwest Washington on Monday. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

We’re beginning to get some sense of how costly #Snowzilla will be for the D.C. region.

D.C. has spent over $12 million on snow removal, according to mayor’s office. That’s about twice what the city budgeted for the whole year.

— Aaron C. Davis (@byaaroncdavis) January 26, 2016

The Post’s Aaron Davis reports that D.C. has already blown through its $6.2 million budget for snow removal for this season. So far it’s spent $12 million on efforts to dig the city out from the impact of Snowzilla. We don’t yet know how much other jurisdictions have spent, but we can tell you what they budgeted: Officials budgeted $70.7 million for snow removal in Northern Virginia alone.

Another analysis looked at the economic impact of the storm measured in lost worker productivity as well as restaurant and retail sales. The analysis by Moody’s analytics estimates that the Washington metropolitan area lost $570 million due to the storm through Monday, about a quarter of the total economic activity for the three-day stretch that started Saturday. Moody’s analysis did not take into account any damage to infrastructure. Overall, the company said estimated Winter Storm Jonas will cost the area economy $2 billion to $3.5 billion.

While still minor compared to the impact of Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the Jersey shore communities and caused millions in damage to New York’s transit system, Snowzilla’s tab is still worth noting, said Adam Kamins, the senior economist who co-authored the report on this past weekend’s blizzard.

Still images taken from surveillance cameras show a suspect wanted in several robberies during the height of the D.C. snowstorm. (Courtesy of Prince George’s County Police)

While many people were hunkered down at home during last weekend’s historic snowstorm, one person, according to police, was busy in the streets.

Prince George’s County police said one man — dubbed the “#SnowSuspect” — has been linked to at least five robberies from Friday through Sunday, as two feet of snow blanketed the region.

Images that police say is of the robber show a man in a brown mask, blue hoodie and snow coming up to his knees. The man may have hit three convenience stores in about an hour, police said.

In each case, the man displayed a handgun and demanded money from a cashier or clerk, said Officer Tyler Hunter, a Prince George’s police spokesman.

“We’re asking for assistance in identifying him,” Hunter said. “He took advantage of the community during the blizzard.”

Hunter said the following robberies have been linked to the same suspect. The first robbery was a restaurant and the other four were all 7-Eleven convenience stores, Hunter said.

•  Jan. 22, 8:43 p.m. —  10820 East Rhode Island Ave., Beltsville.
• Jan. 23, 11:59 p.m. —  4410 Powder Mill Rd., Beltsville.
• Jan. 24, 3:58 a.m. —  11422 Cherry Hill Rd., Beltsville.
• Jan. 24, 4:37 a.m.  —  5048 Garrett Ave., Beltsville.
• Jan. 24, 5:03 a.m. —  8150 Baltimore Ave., College Park.

No one was hurt during any of the robberies, Hunter said.

Police are asking anyone with information about any of these cases to call 301-772-4905 or, to remain anonymous, 1-866-411-TIPS. A cash reward is available for information leading to an arrest.

Fairfax County Public Schools will be closed Thursday and Friday, the school district announced Wednesday afternoon. See the full list of closures.

Red Line platforms packed this morn. Trains operating at reduced headways (8 min. instead of 6). Gallery Pl. #WMATA pic.twitter.com/2F2Nc4aSKr

— Faiz Siddiqui (@faizsays) January 27, 2016

Notice the crowds on Metro’s Red Line Wednesday morning? They were huge — but Metro says there were fewer people using the system than on a typical Wednesday.

The agency said in a tweet that its ridership was about 90 percent of last Wednesday’s. Closings and delayed arrivals for federal workers slashed about 28,000 trips from the system, as compared to last Wednesday, when 264,000 trips were taken.

So why the crowding then?

Fewer trains.

To get the Silver Line up and running, the agency imposed eight-minute intervals on all its trains. For the crowded Blue Line, this meant trains would arrive even more frequently than the normal 12 minutes during the morning rush. For all the other lines, the reduction in service meant more crowded platforms.

On the Red Line, where trains are to arrive every at least every six minutes during the typical morning rush, there were at least two fewer trains per hour Wednesday.

A Twitter user pointed out that because there was a 75 percent reduction of service, with 90 percent of Metro’s usual ridership, the crowd levels were 120 percent of the norm for the morning rush.

@TravisSBN @wmata 90% ridership over 75% service level equals 120% crowd level. Red Line is worse due to the lack of Silver Spring trains.

— Kevin M Combes (@slashkevin) January 27, 2016

That’s right. For every 10 people you count while squished on a Red Line train next week, imagine two more breathing heavily in your personal space. That’s what it was like to ride Wednesday.

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. If nature drops two feet or more of snow on your yard — make snow art.

Here are some of the creations that folks have made with the remnants of #Snowzilla.

I ask my electeds to RT my neighbor’s winter win. @jwaldstreicher @tomhucker @hansriemer @RichMadaleno @hansriemer pic.twitter.com/GQIi6dTKBd

— Abe! (@AbeSaffer) January 27, 2016

The dinosaur theme also proved popular:

Snowzilla. https://t.co/NnJCTmK6Jj pic.twitter.com/ICDSDgnpcx — Imgur (@imgur) January 26, 2016

And then there’s this:

@capitalweather @kevins980 #Snowzilla @thecooleyzone best one: pic.twitter.com/GAl2iMNqv1 — mike (@mjsmcd) January 27, 2016

A spin on the snowman:

Snow rat. Created by Alexandria, VA scientist. She works with mice everyday. #Snowzilla2016 pic.twitter.com/Gsf9oUl1iP — Janet Colacicco (@Porkchop205) January 26, 2016

Something a little more traditional:

Snow angels! #Snowzilla2016 pic.twitter.com/OISyYXP4Ep

— Liz Vargas (@LizAnnVargie) January 27, 2016

If you’ve been obsessively clicking on the District’s plow-tracker website to find out what’s been plowed, you’ve probably been wasting your time.

After being queried about reports of  inconsistencies, the city acknowledged its “Snow Response Reporting System” does not accurately reflect the city’s snow response.

The city simultaneously managed to understate and overstate the work that’s been done, according to site data and interviews.

Read the full story.

Prince William County Public Schools will cancel classes Thursday and Friday, joining Loudoun County Public Schools in closing for the rest of the week.

See the full list of closures.

Slowly but surely, the D.C. region is freeing itself from the clutches of #snowzilla.

Here are a few examples to inspire you if you are still trying to dig out:

Thank you AOC @uscapitol crews that worked tirelessly around the clock all weekend to clear the snow at the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/31eaRHjjCG

— SenateSergeantAtArms (@SenateSAA) January 27, 2016

Meanwhile, Capital Bikeshare, which was forced to shut down operations because many of its stations were buried in snow is making steady progress.

Another station freed from the icy clutches of #snowzilla, this time at 18th & R NW #neverstopshoveling pic.twitter.com/sHk4Zrj4Ms — Capital Bikeshare (@bikeshare) January 27, 2016

With its entire fleet covered in snow, car-sharing service car2go enlisted its customers to help out: The company offered 60 minutes of free drive time for every car a customer dug out. Much progress has been made.

@car2go The habit of being happy enables one to be freed! Plus I freed 2 other cars in the process!#DigOutcar2goDC pic.twitter.com/1FU8BFN5K6

— Thomas McNulty (@WH_Tom) January 27, 2016

@car2goDC here’s one of my 2 contributions to #DCDigOut EZ4258 #Snowzilla #BloomingdaleDC pic.twitter.com/8gpaREOpdL — Tammar Berger (@Canuckdc) January 26, 2016

A sledding adventure turned into a helicopter ride for a 10-year-old boy in Fairfax County on Monday.

The youth was airlifted to a hospital after suffering serious injuries while sledding down the 130-foot dam on Lake Mercer, county fire officials said. Rescue crews found the boy at the bottom of the dam suffering from several unspecified injuries that required splinting and packaging.

The crews used a rope system to raise the boy to the top of the dam, where the helicopter landed to fly the boy to INOVA Fairfax Hospital. The youth was treated and released, officials said.

At Metro’s Gallery Place, large crowds formed at times during the morning rush hour. At times, the cars were so packed that some passengers were bypassed by multiple multiple trains before they could get on board.

There was an earlier issue with a train that had brake problems on the line and that created some delays at Dupont Circle and Glenmont stops.

“Stand clear or we will have to offload the train,” the operator urged at one point, trying to close the doors. A passenger had squeezed on board and his backpack appeared to be tripping the sensors, to the dismay of fellow riders.

Linda Caulfield, 58, of College Park, decided to wait for another Shady Grove-bound train when saw how tightly riders were packed in the first one. Caulfield has issues with crowding, she said, making a commute like Wednesday’s extremely difficult.

“I think they just do what they want,” she said of Metro. “They’re not running as many trains as usual. ’”

Jesse Ormsby, 32, of College Park, said the crowding want surprising, but he had tempered expectations.

“The usual par for the course I guess,” he said, standing in a dense crowd on the platform.

The crowds were so dense that Bernice Butler, 31, of Bloomingdale, had to wait for multiple trains on both the Red and Green Lines.

And that was after a half-mile walk to Shaw-Howard University Metro station because her bus, the G8, wasn’t running. The moderate snow plan does not include that route, but Metro said in a tweet Wednesday morning it was running special morning and afternoon school trips.

“There’s always something,” Butler said. “I think it says a lot about our resources.”

Some day, we’ll as laugh about this, but for now enjoy this time lapse video courtesy of the White House.

Rhianna McCarte, 30, clears snow from her car in Alexandria. While the street McCarte lives on was cleared by Sunday, many in the Northern Virginia city have had to wait many more days for the plows to pass through. (Cliff Owen/ AP)

Alexandria snowplow crews, who have struggled with the volume of snow to clear from narrow city streets, said that as of Wednesday morning, all residential streets have at least a single lane plowed.

However, the city warns that due to the massive amount of snowfall, it will be several more days before all city roads are completely cleared.

Officials also reminder residents that sidewalks and entrances as well as driveways are the responsibility of adjacent property owners, occupants or community association.  Local ordinances required that those walkways should have been cleared by 9 p.m. Tuesday or the responsible party could risk a fine of $50 or more. But not everyone may be ticketed.

“We know that many folks have been working hard to shovel, and that plowing has created many high snowbanks,” city spokesman Craig Fifer said in a statement. “Inspectors will assess conditions before issuing citations and will work with property owners who have been making an effort.”

Riders wait on a crowded platform at Dupont Circle Wednesday morning. (William McCarren)

Riders reported delays and crowds on Metro’s Red Line.

There were heavy crowds at Dupont Circle and Glenmont stops. Metro said there was an earlier train with a brake problem at Dupont Cirle and passengers had to get off the train.

Riders shared their views —

A packed bus travels along Wisconsin Avenue in the District Wednesday morning. (Luz Lazo/The Washington Post)

It was no cake walk for Metro bus riders Wednesday morning, as they experienced up to 45-minute delays, the transit agency said. And that was if their routes were running at all.

Icy conditions and heavy traffic across the region are having a significant impact on the regional bus system, which resumed service with 160 of its 325 routes on Wednesday. Metro is operating on what it calls its moderate snow plan, which means reduced service and route detours. The agency has posted which routes are up and where they are going on its website. As to when buses will arrive? That is a bit of a mystery.

Even routes on major thoroughfares, such as Wisconsin Avenue, were seeing delays and detours. Buses departing the Friendship Heights station in Wisconsin Avenue NW were backed up and detoured at Fessenden Street due to weather-related problems near the Tenleytown Metro station. Some trucks moving snow caused part of the backups on Wisconsin Avenue and Chesapeake Street NW.

Northbound buses on Wisconsin were being detoured at Tenley Circle, leaving riders at at least three bus stops in between.

Metrobus reported several other detours in the system.  The D6 buses to Stadium Armory are detouring at MacArthur and Cathedral Ave NW due to road conditions.

Rock Creek Parkway in both directions will be closed from 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. for snow removal.

While the entire parkway will be closed, there have been rolling road closures on other area roadways as the region digs out from the weekend blizzard.

Another road closing is on part of Waterside Drive in Northwest D.C.

This post has been updated with comments from a company spokesman.

Customers who were keeping belongings at a Baileys Crossroads storage facility may have to find a new place to stash the items after part of the building’s roof collapsed over the weekend.

In an email to customers, staff at the Extra Storage Space facility at 5821 Seminary Road said they have brought structural engineers in to assess the problem and urged customers to stay away from the building until they could determine whether it is safe.

The email blamed the weekend’s massive snowfall:

Due to the abnormally high snow fall over the weekend, a portion of the Facility’s roof collapsed.  Extra Space does not know at this time how many units have been impacted. Safety of our customers and employees is our top priority. We currently have structural engineers on site attempting to determine conditions at the Facility and whether or not it is safe to allow customers inside the building.  Until a determination is made that the building is safe, Extra Space is unable to allow any customers at the Facility until further notice.

Additional updates will be sent when available.  When customers are allowed to visit the Facility, Extra Space will ask you to come to the Facility to check on your stored items which may have been damaged due to the roof collapse and/or from water damage from melted snow.

Jeff Norman, spokesman for the Utah-based company said they believe eight to 10 storage units were directly affected by that collapse, but there may be damage to items in other units due to water issues. Contractors have put tarps on the roof to prevent leakage. There are a total of 669 units at the facility.

Norman said they are lucky — the Bailey’s Crossroads building was the only one of the 71 facility the company has in the D.C./Baltimore region that was damaged due to snow. The hope is to ensure the building is safe so that customers and employees can be allowed back in the building.

Ah, Washington is getting back to “normal” after days of a blizzard and the dig out that followed.

It was a long and frustrating morning for drivers trying to get around the region. In upper Northwest Washington, bumper-to-bumper traffic headed south on Wisconsin Avenue in the Tenleytown area.

Buses detoured and pedestrians — in some areas — walked in the road to get around snow mounds on the sidewalks.

Travel lanes in the region are reduced as crews have pushed snow off the roads but on to shoulders and parts of lanes, making it reduced visibility and space for drivers. Use caution, highway officials advise.

Commuters board trains Wednesday at Metro’s Wiehle-Reston East stop on the Silver Line, which reopened for the first time since the blizzard. (Paul Duggan/The Washington Post)

After being closed since 11 p.m. Friday, Metro’s Silver Line roused to life at 5 a.m. Wednesday, the last of Metro’s six rail lines to return to service since the blizzard. A biting winter wind swept the outdoor platform as commuters trickled into the station before dawn, the crowd much lighter than normal, mainly because the federal government was opening three hours late.

At the Wiehle-Reston East station, Cathy Morton, a “40ish” technical analyst for a downtown Washington law firm, offered a classic assessment of Metro from a native of a certain Midwest city that prides itself on conquering harsh weather.

“I just moved here from Chicago,” said Morton, of Reston, “so let me tell you, this sucks!” She meant the Washington area’s response to the snow, particularly the suspension of Metro service. “I’m like, what kind of wimps are these?! Get out there and plow, for goodness sake! And shutting down schools Friday for a dusting? Really? Seriously?”

The Chicago Transit Authority (tune out if you’ve heard this before) “never” closes in that city’s sometimes Arctic-like winter, Morton pointed out. “”Never!”

Others were more charitable toward Metro. “It is what it is,” said Bill Espinosa, 68, of Herndon, headed to work at the Pentagon. “They haven’t performed, and it makes me a little angry. But they’re open now, and we’ll see what happens. Time will tell.”

Jason Rowley, 39, of Reston who works as a banquet chef at a hotel near Foggy Bottom was going back to work for the first time.

On Monday, “I couldn’t get out of my neighborhood with the snow so it didn’t matter.” Then on Tuesday with the Silver Line still not open, he started driving to Ballston to catch an Orange Line train.

“I called my boss on the way and said I was running a little late. He told me to just turn around and take the day off.” On Wednesday, he was hiking into the station for the first time since the blizzard.

“I mean, they did what they could, we don’t usually get something like this, so that’s the way it goes,” he said of Metro and its work to remove snow and run trains.

Rommel Fuentes, 26, of Rosslyn who works for a housekeeping service said he drove to Reston Friday to help his mother who lives alone in the area. By the time he was able to return to Rosslyn on Monday, the roads were so bad that he left his Toyota in Reston and traveled by bus. Now he was back in Reston to retrieve his car.

“I don’t know the bus routes out here. I would have had to take four buses out here from what I am hearing. It ain’t worth it. So I took the train.” He said he went to bed last night with no confidence that Metro would manage to open the Silver Line.

“There’s always delays,” he said. “I ride Metro a lot downtown. It’s always something going wrong. …Then I woke up at 4 in the morning today and checked my mobile app and they said the Silver Line was open. I was like: ‘Man! I can’t believe it!’ You know, I was real relieved.”

It was a painless commute for many on Metro’s Blue and Silver lines early Wednesday morning, but crowds were thinned by a delayed start for federal employees — making for a staggered morning rush.

At the Largo Town Center stop in Maryland, riders were relieved to see their coveted rail lines return to service. By 8 a.m., platforms at the station sat empty, with both the Blue and Silver lines operating on an eight-minute schedule — a sharp contrast to Tuesday, when Silver Line service was still suspended.

“It’s a major inconvenience because so many people depend on the Metro,” said Larry Hill, 51, of Upper Marlboro, who takes the train 17 stops to his federal government job in Rosslyn every morning. “It’s like missing an arm or a leg.”

Hill said Metro’s decision to close during the storm made sense in retrospect, but the fact that Metro couldn’t be reliably up and running sooner was still “a major setback.”

A stop over at Morgan Boulevard, Gregory Blackmon, 43, was making his Silver Line commute to Clarendon for the first time since the blizzard. He praised Metro’s handling of the storm, saying its caution allowed it to be operating close to normal levels by the middle of the week.

“I think it’s one of the best decisions they’ve made in 40 years,” he said. “I mean it was inconvenient, but look at it today. They’re back up and running.”

A major backup stretches 13 miles on the Capital Beltway from Rockville to Tysons Wednesday morning after three separate incidents involving tractor trailers. Officials said no was injured in the incidents.

One of the incidents began just after midnight on the southbound lanes of the Beltway near the Dulles Toll Road. Virginia State Police said they responded to a report of a disabled tractor trailer. The tractor trailer was starting to “split apart so additional lanes were closed to prevent a crash,” according to Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman at the department.

Then, officials said, three other tractor trailers jackknifed along the Beltway’s southbound lanes near Braddock Road. Those blocked the main lanes of the Beltway and the Express Lanes.

Geller said in a statement that “traffic is being diverted as clean up and removal of the vehicles take place.” She said the cause of the crashes is still under investigation. It was not immediately known if weather was a factor.

Slow going Wednesday morning on the Capital Beltway between Rockville and Tysons Corner. (Courtesy of VDOT)

Traffic moved slowly on many of the Washington area’s highways as people began to head back to work after several days of being mostly snowbound.

The Virginia Department of Transportation reported traffic was moving, albeit slowly, along the Capital Beltway between Rockville and Tysons.

Three earlier crashes involving tractor trailers were beginning to clear although some delays remained.

One of the crashes along Interstate 270 southbound near Montrose had delays close to three miles. Another on Interstate 270 just south of Frederick had delays at one point close to eight miles.

In Virginia, the Beltway’s outer loop near Braddock Road had reopened after an earlier tractor trailer crash.

For more details on the morning commute around the area, read Dr. Gridlock here.

Metro said in a Twitter message that its buses are running up to 45 minutes late Wednesday morning.

Bus agencies around the region have warned passengers there are likely to be delays and detours as buses navigate streets with snow mounds on the sides or partially in lanes.

Metro has roughly 160 of its 300-plus bus routes running. This comes after it shut down its rail and bus service over the weekend and has gradually added back service over the last few days.

Almost all of the Arlington bus service has returned to its normal routes — except for a few lines.

And folks might want to consider wearing boots and other winter weather gear. Many bus stops are still not cleared.

After exiting the bus on Pennsylvania Ave. NW. #wmata pic.twitter.com/TGAkcjZ9D0

— Luz Lazo (@luzcita) January 27, 2016

For more details on what transportation options are Wednesday, read here.

Some riders trying to get around D.C. on Metrobus as it tries to run more routes after the blizzard. (Luz Lazo/The Washington Post)

Metro said it has reopened all of its 91 stations and all six rail lanes.

The action follows the closure of its rail and bus operations over the weekend; it then had very limited service for days following the blizzard.

Still, stations — like many area side streets — have mounds of snow to deal with. Commuters are advised to use caution when walking on platforms and sidewalks.

Metro said it is also now operating 160 of its bus routes.

For more details on area transportation options for Wednesday, read here.

Three separate crashes involving tractor trailers seem likely to snarl the early morning commute for D.C. area residents as many head out for work after days of being mostly snowbound from the weekend blizzard.

Two of the crashes are on Interstate 270 — one is in the Rockville area and the other is just south of Frederick. The third is on the southbound side of the Capital Beltway near Braddock Road.

Authorities warn drivers should expect delays as they get out and about. One big problem is snow mounds that have been pushed off the roadways and reduced lanes, according to officials.

[Three tractor trailer crashes snarl traffic on major roads in Maryland and Virginia]

Their advice — slow down, be alert, and allow extra time.

“It is going to be a slow, difficult commute,” said Jennifer McCord, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation. We’re expecting quite a bit more traffic today as more commuters are venturing out.”

Another concern is the potential for refreezing from low temperatures overnight and in the early morning. Officials advise drivers to watch for slick spots on area roads and sidewalks.

Four days after a blizzard hit the D.C. region, crews worked to clear streets, many schools remained closed, and residents shoveled out coveted parking spots as people tried to return to normal life.

Metro got closer to returning to full service on its rail line but still had made no decision on the Silver Line. It plans to make a decision in the wee hours Wednesday. And bus service for Metro and other agencies was starting to resume on many routes.

Still, there were the complaints from those whose streets were unplowed.

For all you need to know on the blizzard’s coverage check out these:

• ‘I nearly passed out’: A $640 Uber ride for a 30-mile trip to the airport
• PM Update: Showers this evening and overnight lows close to the freezing mark
•  The laws and fines for not shoveling snow in the D.C. area
• D.C. public schools to open on time Wednesday as Fairfax, others stay closed
• I don’t care if you spent 5 hours digging out a parking spot, it’s still not yours
• PSA: Do not park in this guy’ space. He will bury your car in snow
• Mayor Bowser bristles at comparisons with New York. Well, why can’t Washington be like other big cities?
• Kids would rather play Xbox than make money shoveling. It’s pitiful.
• Emergency food program in D.C. schools expands its reach
• Snowzilla by the (Uber) numbers
• Here’s what went wrong on Metro’s Orange Line Tuesday, according to Metro

Metro probably won’t decide until the wee hours of Wednesday whether rail service on the Silver Line will be restored when the rest of the subway opens at 5 a.m., spokesman Dan Stessel said.

At a news briefing late Tuesday, Stessel said the Silver Line, in the Tysons Corner area, was especially hard hit by last weekend’s blizzard, with some of the region’s heaviest snow accumulation coming in that part of Northern Virginia. Stessel said Metro work crews have had a difficult time dealing with snow and ice removal from the Silver Line’s third rails, a system-wide problem that General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld explained in detail earlier in the week.

Metro will continue running test trains on the Silver Line overnight Tuesday into Wednesday before deciding whether to reopen the rail route, Stessel said. If the line’s five above-ground stations — McLean, Tysons Corner, Greensboro, Spring Hill and Wiehle-Reston East — remain closed Wednesday, shuttle buses will take commuters from those stations to the West Falls Church station on the Orange Line. Shuttle buses were not deployed to Silver Line stations Monday or Tuesday.

Read more of the story here.

Good news for Maryland commuters.  The Maryland Transit Administration said it will restore all commuter bus service Wednesday.  MARC train service, however, will continue to run on a reduced schedule. These are the details for MARC commuters:

• Penn Line — the line that connects Baltimore and Washington will operate on an “S” weekday schedule. Only trains with an “S” under the train number in the printed timetable will operate.
• Camden Line — Only the following trains will operate on the line between Camden Yards and Union Station: 845, 849, 851, 846, 853, 850, 852, 856.
• Brunswick Line — Only the following trains will operate: From Brunswick — 874, 876, 880. From Union Station: 873, 877, 881. All trains will make all stops between Brunswick and Washington. There will be no service to West Virginia stations or Monocacy and Frederick.

While riding in a police helicopter surveying snow-removal efforts Tuesday afternoon, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) noticed a Temple Hills neighborhood in need of help.

According to Baker’s spokesman, Scott Peterson, the executive asked the chopper crew to find a place to land, and the aircraft descended at Crossland High School. Baker hopped into a police cruiser to get closer to the neighborhood. A plow was summoned, and, soon, snow was being cleared.

Read more of the story here.

As the dig-out dragged on, officials were eyeing possible new weather problems.

The biggest concern is another rush-hour freeze-up like the storm last week – pre-blizzard – that paralyzed the region and left some commuters stuck in eight-hour ordeals.

“The precipitation I’m worried about: Thursday afternoon,” said Christopher Geldart, the District’s emergency management chief, citing “a slight chance – 20 to 30 percent – we might get some frozen precipitation” right at rush hour.

“We’ve got our contingency plans in place now if we need to, early on Thursday, pull our crews from what they’re doing, load up and treat so we don’t have what we had last Wednesday,” Geldart said. The trucks would spread a beet-juice brine, the solution that was missing from many city roads ahead of the minor snow that caused major problems.

Angela Fritz of The Post’s Capital Weather Gang said potential problems could actually arrive slightly later in the week.

“Forecasts earlier this week were pointing to snow potential Thursday, but it now looks like that system will stay well to our south,” Fritz said. “We’re now more concerned about freezing temperatures on Thursday night. That could make the Friday morning commute icy in places where the roads aren’t completely dry.”

Jennifer McCord of the Virginia Department of Transportation said Virginia transportation workers are keeping an eye out. “But since we already have trucks in, and have been putting down salt [and] sand, we are prepared. Trucks are already out and mobilized … in case we need them,” she said.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser gives an update Tuesday on snow cleanup. (Courtesy of D.C. Mayor’s Office)

Even as D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser set Wednesday evening as the official end to the snow emergency, she appealed to residents for much needed clean-up help and chided some for not doing enough. She asked city residents to help shovel out sewer drains and fire hydrants and clear paths from bus stops to the street.

As it was, during Tuesday’s commute, an elderly woman trying to board a Metro bus on 16^th Street was forced to squeeze through a tiny, slippery opening in a dirty snow bank between the sidewalk and the street. She put one foot in the wet street, and was unable to pull herself aboard until bus driver Ronald Brittingham stepped off to lift her in.

“I won’t let you fall,” Brittingham said.

Many commercial property owners have not shoveled out as required by law, Bowser said, citing a stroll down Connecticut Avenue.

“In one block, there were two property owners who failed to clear their sidewalks,” she said, saying such businesses were breaking the law and city enforcement was kicking in, with $150 fines. “You must get out and remove snow from your sidewalks immediately.”

She urged residents to do the same, though she said they would not be fined.

Parking restrictions along snow emergency routes in the District remained in effect until 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Bowser said.

Bowser warned that it’s illegal to park “sort of in the middle of the street,” i.e. up against the snow banks that in many places are blocking regular curb-side parking spaces. Doing so can bring a ticket, she said.

“A legal space is one that is no more than 12 inches from the curb,” Bowser said.

“Twelve inches from the snow bank is not the rule, it’s 12 inches from the curb,” said District emergency chief Chris Geldart, adding that workers need to clear that snow immediately, particularly along major routes.

In another bit of citywide housekeeping, Bowser reminded residents that they’re on their own when it comes to alleyways.

“The District doesn’t clear snow from alleys,” Bowser said. Neighbors often “band together” to clean out alley entrances, she said. But “we are really dependent on Mother Nature to help us melt.”

Hindsight is often 20/20, especially when it comes to dealing with moving two feet of snow and area residents.

Tell that to Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz.

He’s had his problems in the last few days since the blizzard — a flurry of complaints from residents about unplowed residential streets, an inaccurate online map showing which streets have been plowed and why bike trails were cleared before neighborhood lanes were.

Now he says Arlington will do what is so typical in Washington — analyze it. Schwartz said he will organize a community-based after-action report to find points of failure and ways to improve.

“No amount of words will help the snow melt faster, but here goes,” Schwartz said Tuesday afternoon at the first County Board meeting after the blizzard dumped 20-plus inches of snow on the region.

“We do not pretend to have the equipment and staff to respond to this … or to rebound as quickly as we would like,” Schwartz said. The county’s goal is to have one passable lane on each street by Wednesday noon, he and other county officials said.

By mid-afternoon Tuesday, 55 percent of neighborhood streets had seen at least a single lane plowed. Further plowing and cleanup will likely go on through next weekend.

The snow plow status map has been a particular point of contention because, even though it is supposed to be updated every 12 hours, it has shown some streets as plowed that were not.

Under questioning from board members, Schwartz agreed that “inaccurate information is worse than no information. We know where the trucks are and where they’ve gone, but we don’t know when their blades are down and they are up.”

Another problem — the county’s online form where residents can report a “snow issue” has been inundated with 4,500 complaints or comments, with 400 coming in during a single hour Monday. The form is intended merely to alert the county to problems, said Mike Moon, deputy director of operations for the county’s environmental services department.

“What is the expectation created by asking people to fill out this form?” asked board member Jay Fisette (D). “Some people think it means a plow is on the way.”

Moon and his boss, Greg Emanuel, said they do not have enough staff to answer every report, especially during an emergency. Schwartz said the county will rethink that, as well as the online snowplow map.

Why clear bike-pedestrian paths before streets in some cases?

Last year, the County Board bought two small snowplows that can only be used on the narrower trails because they are too small for road use, said county parks director Jane Rudolph.

Other board members said that in some cases, plows made a snowed-in situation worse when the compacted snowbanks created by plows block in driveways that took residents hours to clear.  The 254 plows and other pieces of equipment deployed in Arlington, were operated primarily with contractors, Moon said. In the coming weekend, he hopes to have crews focus on clearing snow piles and having them hauled away.

It wasn’t all complaints, though. There were some compliments, too. Board members gave kudos to county employees and contractors who have been working 12-hour shifts for four days.

“It’s nice to say this is a once-in-a-generation storm but … it feels like these are happening every five years,” said board chair Libby Garvey (D).

The D.C. Circulator will operate four of its six routes Wednesday. Buses will run every 15 minutes, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The national Mall and Union Station-Navy Yard routes will remain off service.

These routes will be in service:

• Georgetown – Union Station
• Woodley Park – Adams Morgan – McPherson Square
• Potomac Avenue – Skyland
• Rosslyn – Dupont Circle

Drivers who didn’t abide by D.C.’s parking rules during Snowzilla had to pay — and big time.

By Tuesday, 572 cars in the District had been towed under the District’s snow emergency route. And 3,517 citations were handed down, each at a cost of $250, according to District Department of Public Works spokeswoman Linda P. Grant.

And those abandoned cars you saw in the roadways after the storm? There were 91 of them at the Department of Public Work’s  last count – and each had to be hauled away for a towing fee of $100. Parking violators who were towed faced the same fine, in addition to the parking citation.

And the numbers can be expected to rise; a snow emergency remains in effect until 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The snow emergency rules aim to keep main arteries clear so plows can get through. The route includes oft-traveled lettered and numbered streets, and thoroughfares such as Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York Avenues.

(Courtesy Bonnie Lieb)

Bonnie Lieb said she expected to pay more than usual for an Uber ride from her Sterling, Va., home to Reagan National Airport on Monday morning. With her car still covered in two feet of snow and her street unplowed, she said, she agreed to pay the Uber surge price of 4.4 times the normal fare.

Neighbors had said an Uber ride to the airport typically cost $50 to $70, so she figured she had agreed to pay about $250 — expensive for a 30-mile trip, but she had to get to Denver for a client meeting.

So Lieb said she was floored when she got through the security checkpoint at Reagan, checked her email and saw her emailed Uber receipt: $640.94 had been charged to her American Express card.

Read the full story.

A graph shows Uber’s surge-pricing rate during and after the blizzard. During the storm, the surge appears to have peaked at 2.9x. (Graph created by Annie Wang)

In the run-up to last weekend’s blizzard, Uber announced that it would cap its dreaded surge pricing — the folly of so many on New Year’s Eve, who awoke to find their five-block ride home had set them back a whole rent check.

But the ride-hailing giant didn’t specify what its cap would be. It offered only a convoluted explanation: “The state of emergency price will be set after excluding the 3 highest-priced, non-emergency days of the preceding 2 months for that particular market.”

Amid boredom over the weekend, Annie Wang, a data scientist from Northwest Washington, took matters into her own hands. In short, she used the company’s own data — a program interface for software developers — to dig up the information Uber wouldn’t volunteer. The number she arrived at: 2.9 times the normal fare.

[‘I nearly passed out’: A $640 Uber ride for a 30-mile trip to the airport]

From the height of the blizzard Saturday to Monday morning’s cleanup, Uber’s rates were at a near-constant of three times the normal fare. Much lower than the nightmare New Year’s fares of seven and eight times the norm, but still high enough for riders to rack up hefty tabs — especially on the snow-caked streets.

That’s if you could even get a ride.

“What was pretty striking was the relative unavailability of Uber,” Wang said Tuesday.

[Read more of the story — Snowzilla by the (Uber) numbers]

Relatively balmy temperatures in the upper 40s Tuesday afternoon left some Washington area residents sweating through T-shirts as they shoveled mounds of increasingly slushy snow, but weather experts are keeping an eye on the forecast to make sure the big melt doesn’t occur too quickly and cause flooding.

The potential for flooding exists for weeks, experts say, or as long as the white stuff sticks in the colder West Virginia mountains.

Jason Elliott, a senior service hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va., said things look good so far. Temperatures are expected to reach 50 by Friday and this weekend, he said, but below-freezing temperatures overnight should keep the melt at a gradual enough pace to prevent flooding. The snow is also still fluffy enough to absorb much of the melt, he said.

But Elliott said any significant rain over the coming weeks could pose a problem. Rain combined with snow melt from anywhere upstream on the Potomac River would cause the river to swell, he said. As long as there’s snow upriver in the West Virginia mountains, he said, the potential for flooding exists. In 2010, the Potomac flooded along the banks and sent water into some low-lying buildings five weeks after Snowmageddon, when it rained just as temperatures warmed up in March, he said.

“As long as there’s some snow pack somewhere,” Elliott said, “It’s still something we have to watch. We’ll monitor that snow pack every day from here on.”

Elliott said the two feet or so of snow that fell in the Washington region contains two to three inches of water.

“That’s plenty of water,” he said. “If it all goes at once, that’s a problem, but nothing is telling us that number is coming all at once.”

The risk of flooding rises as the snow becomes more compact and temperatures rise, Elliott said, but the mostly dry forecast should keep that from happening. As long as the region doesn’t get a heavy rain, he said, the melt should be okay, unless snow clogs storm drains and floods streets. (D.C. Water officials have asked residents to clear snow from in front of storm drains and around fire hydrants.)

Even with temperatures climbing to 47 degrees Tuesday afternoon, Elliott said, “It will be a nice, gradual melt — maybe a little faster than gradual, but it will be slow and steady, and that’s exactly what we want.”

Local sewer utilities also are keeping an eye on the melt.

D.C. Water officials said Tuesday that they’re seeing about a 10 percent increase in their sewer flow rates so far. In the District, about a third of the city’s sewer system also carries water from snow melt and storm water drainage. In the Maryland suburbs, older sewer pipes with cracks and leaks can absorb groundwater after the snow melts, according to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.

As long as the snow continues to melt gradually — over the next seven to nine days — and the forecast of no significant rain holds, the sewer system can handle it, officials said.

Metrobus riders will have a few more bus options for Wednesday’s commute.

Metro will begin Metrobus service on a “moderate” weather service plan, meaning that service will be available on 160 commuter routes.

The bus service — and practically every other mode of transportation — was impacted by the weekend’s storm that left the Washington region with two feet of snow. On Monday, Metro ran only 24 routes, and Tuesday, service was expanded to 79 bus routes. On Wednesday, however, 165 routes or so will still not be in service.

The agency said more bus routes will be restored when it is safe to do so. Bus riders should continue to expect delays and detours, Metro said.

Metro said it did not know whether it would restore service to the Silver Line in Northern Virginia on Wednesday.

The transit agency had not reopened the line Tuesday and said it won’t make a decision about Wednesday until the overnight hours after testing trains on it.

If there is no rail service on the Silver Line, Metro said, it will provide shuttle buses from the stations along the line that will take riders to the West Falls Church stop. On Tuesday, Metro did not have shuttle service from those stations.

On the Orange Line, several stations at the western end did not open early Tuesday but are now fully operational, Metro said. Metro said it has had problems keeping snow and ice off the third rail of the Silver Line’s tracks. The third rail is critical because it helps power the trains.

[Here’s what went wrong on the Orange Line Tuesday, according to Metro]

Metro’s been gradually restoring bus service on 320 routes. On Wednesday, the transit agency said it expects to go to what it calls a “moderate” service plan with 130 bus routes operational. It had stopped running all bus service over the weekend during the blizzard and has gradually increased the number of bus routes it is running over the last two days from 22 to 79 on Tuesday.

Transit officials said they are working closely with the District’s Department of Transportation on the 32 Metro bus routes that carry mainly kids to area public schools. Dan Stessel, a Metro spokesman, said the two agencies are working “hand in glove” to make sure that as many needed of those routes will be open as possible.

Metro also said it expects to have enough parking for riders — in part because ridership is expected to be lighter.

The system will open at 5 a.m. Wednesday.

Montgomery County’s bus system, Ride On, will restore operations on most routes on Wednesday, county officials announced Tuesday afternoon. But they warned there could be detours and changes.

Buses will still run on a snow emergency schedule.

The system will have an “S” service plan in effect Wednesday, meaning there could be detours and possible delays, depending on road conditions.

According to Ride On’s website, under the “S” plan all weekday routes have some service except Route 94.

This post has been updated with new comments from Moody’s economists.

Moody’s Analytics estimates that the economic cost — in terms of lost productivity and spending — of the blizzard that hit the East Coast this weekend is $2.5 billion to $3 billion. It may sound like a big number, but in terms of the region’s overall economy it’s  “relatively small” hit.

However, the authors of the study noted that had the the storm hit during the week, the losses could have been three times higher.

The analysis includes “the lost output that won’t be recouped through overtime, working from home, and deferred spending,” but does not include any damage the storm might have done to infrastructure.

Moody’s economists used data from states, metropolitan areas and counties on daily output on workdays and weekends by industry, including retail, the federal government and transportation. Analysts separated each sector into three categories — ones that were severely, moderately or minimally affected — and made assumptions about how each might be affected by the storm.

Overall, Moody’s estimated that the storm’s cost to the retail sector was around $860 million. The leisure and hospitality sectors also were big losers. Because of the timing of the storm — the majority of losses took place over the weekend, traditionally a time for leisure activities — it’s not surprising that those two industries were the hardest hit, analysts found.

“The majority of peak impact of the storm was during the weekend so it was more in retail leisure hospitality industries,” said Adam Kamins, a senior economist and co-author of the study. “Take restaurants — if you were going to go out to eat you didn’t.”

According to Moody’s losses in the D.C. region due to the storm were roughly $570 million for the Saturday through Monday period. That number is about one-quarter of the total economic activity for the three-day stretch that began Friday. By contrast, losses in the New York metro area were about 7 percent of the region’s economic activity, which translates to roughly $460 million.

D.C.’s losses were greater than New York’s in part because the city took longer to recover. But other communities, including nearby Baltimore also had significant losses in productivity and other sectors, Kamins added.

Even though federal government spending may be postponed, the report noted that “losses were incurred because of lost work hours and compensation for federal employees, which the national product accounts treat as government output.”

It noted that unlike the money spent by the government on goods and services, a loss in the hours worked by federal employees won’t be made up.

Another sector that will lose revenue due to the blizzard: transportation. Transit systems in D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York had partial or complete shutdowns. And even when systems around D.C. opened Monday, offering partial service, they did not charge customers. However, Moody’s noted that for some sectors, including transportation, the timing of the storm was fortunate because it came on a weekend when fewer people may use the systems.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

New York City’s Department of Sanitation tweeted that it uses a V-plow to push snow off streets. This one works in Queens on Sunday. (Courtesy of NYC Department of Sanitation)

New York City’s mayor’s office is tooting its own horn, saying its sanitation department has plowed 7.25 million tons of snow from its streets and pathways — that’s enough to fill Yankee Stadium to the top 66 times.

Or another way to look at it — that’s enough snow to fill the entire Empire State Building 24 times.

In Queens alone, the city said it has 200 front-end loaders.

And, even with heavy snow on the ground — JFK and LaGuardia airports recorded 30.5 and 27.9 inches of snow, respectively — the city’s public schools were open Monday.

Meanwhile, here in the nation’s capital — Public schools and most other schools in D.C. and in the Capital Beltway area were closed.

[Snowzilla makes history from Northern Virginia to New York]

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office ticked off some other stats on how the city is progressing on plowing streets and clearing sidewalks and bus shelters.

Here are a few highlights of what’s been cleared —

– 81.5 percent of bus shelters.

– 100 percent of step streets.

– 88 percent of pedestrian overpasses.

Bad news for folks who’ve come to depend on Capital Bikeshare to get where they’re going: Company officials announced Tuesday that they will remain closed on Wednesday.

The goal is to give staff members another day to remove the heavy snow that has blanketed stations across the region.

See the full story.

Officials in Prince George’s County asked residents for a “a great deal of patience” in the snow removal process, and said parked cars on side streets have been a major obstacle for plows needing to maneuver through neighborhood roads.

Prince George’s County Council Chair Derrick L. Davis (D-Mitchellvile) said nearly all the major county roads are passable but clearing residential streets  will be a “multi-day event.”

Despite those calls, residents have been unrelenting on social media with their complaints, tweeting harsh criticism and photos of unplowed streets at county Twitter accounts. Some have directed their comments to County Executive Rushern L. Baker and his Twitter account.

On Twitter, another user who goes by Clifford Colter drew parallels between the the response from the District and that from the Prince George’s County government: “@PGCountyDPWT D.C.’s mayor has been very vigilant. PG County officials ‘appear’ to asleep at the stick.”

Another Twitter user named Regina commented on a photo that showed the county executive with volunteers: “need a plow at 25^th Ave & Catskill Street if you care.” The user followed up an hour later, saying it was 53 hours since the end of the storm, and no plow had traversed that address in Hillcrest Heights in Prince George’s County. The user did not return immediate requests for a comment, and it was not known if the street was plowed as 3 p.m. Tuesday.

A screen shot of a Prince George’s County resident’s message online to leaders about unplowed streets. (Courtesy of Arelis Hernandez)

Baker’s spokesman Scott Peterson said the government has tried to give residents new technology to help alleviate the agitation. Snow removal requests can be submitted online, and the site, pgctrip.com, shows live traffic cameras and conditions of Prince George’s County’s major roads. But another website designed to track snow plows has had ongoing problems and has been down since the weekend blizzard.

The residents of Alexandria are not known for their patience with city services, and local government officials said they’ve been hearing from both the satisfied and unsatisfied this week as city crews battle to  make every residential street passable by Tuesday night — which means emergency vehicles can get through.

“Is it fast enough? It’s a daunting task,” said  Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberberg. “We are working as fast as we can. I totally get it … but the snowplow operators are incredibly courageous. They’re tired, they’re working nonstop, they’re dealing with abandoned cars and now traffic. The citizenry should know that my number one priority is no fatalities.”

All primary and secondary routes were deemed passable for emergency vehicles Tuesday, and 60 percent of the residential streets have also had at least one pass of a plow. Residents say secondary streets still aren’t fully plowed.

The city will update its progress at 7 p.m. Snow emergency route parking restrictions have been lifted as has the city’s taxi surcharge.

“Our goal is to reach all streets by tonight,” said city spokesman Craig Fifer. “After every street is passable, we will return to widen travel and turn lanes and improve intersections.”

Officials with the D.C. Taxicab Commission said the $15 snow emergency surcharge will end Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. That coincides with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s announcement that the snow emergency in the city will end at that time.

The $15 surcharge on taxicab rides went into effect early Friday morning as the region prepared for the arrival of the massive blizzard some dubbed “Snowzilla.” The commission briefly announced it was lifting the surcharge at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, only to reinstate it 90 minutes later.

According to the Associated Press, a snow emergency fare period can be put into place when there are hazardous driving conditions, such as significant accumulation of snow on the streets.

While other parts of the region appear to be getting closer to normalcy, some harder-to-reach neighborhoods in Fairfax County are still snowbound.

Frustrated residents in Chantilly, Centreville, Clifton and Fairfax Station have been calling county officials to complain about still-unplowed local streets, officials said.

Homeowners associations, who are responsible for plowing the roads in their subdivisions, haven’t started yet because they’re still waiting on the Virginia Department of Transportation, said county Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield.)

“I’ve had a couple of HOAS tell me that their plows can’t get through to the areas they need to plow because they’re still waiting on VDOT,” Herrity said, calling the state’s snow removal efforts “a real mixed bag.”

“People are calling and thanking me for how well VDOT has done, and others are saying: `Where’s VDOT?’” he said.

State transportation officials are aiming to have all roads in Northern Virginia plowed by Wednesday morning. But the entire cleanup effort could take several days more, said Sharon Bulova, chair of the Fairfax County board of supervisors.

“They’re now saying that the clearing may not be completed until the weekend, which is frustrating for homeowners and businesses,” said Bulova, who nonetheless called for more patience.

She and other county officials asked residents at home to shovel their sidewalks and to clear out storm drain entrances so the melting snow can flow more freely off of the streets.

With rain in the forecast, more hazards loom ahead, Bulova said.

“We’re going to start to see melting,” she said. “We’re going to start to see water potentially backing up into streets and freezing, causing black ice and freezing patches on the sidewalks.”

D.C. Public Schools will open on time Wednesday. According to DCPS, “families should use discretion when deciding whether to send students to school. DCPS will excuse all absences and late arrivals tomorrow.”

See the full list.

Authorities said a 5-year-old girl was fatally injured after an SUV struck her while she was sledding  in Sykesville.

The girl was sledding down a driveway onto Heritage Lane in Carroll County about 10:20 a.m. Monday when a Kia Sorento hit her, according to Cpl. John Light, a spokesman for the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office.

Light said that the SUV’s driver, a 49-year-old woman, showed no signs of impairment and that speed did not appear to be a factor in the crash.

Read the full story: 5-year-old killed in Maryland sledding accident

Fairfax County Public Schools is the latest school district in the Washington region to cancel classes on Wednesday. See the full list of Wednesday school cancellations.

Some riders were trying to get around the District on Metrobus but many routes were late. (Luz Lazo/The Washington Post)

Most area bus stops remain buried in snow or blocked by massive piles of it plowed from the road. Those conditions are not likely to change this week as the region’s cleanup efforts are still centered on plowing roads.

Transportation officials say it may take some time to clean up bus stops– and the sidewalks around them– after two feet of snow fell on much of the Washington region over the weekend. Where those efforts have begun, they are “progressing slowly,” officials say.

[Caution urged at bus stops. Snow piles likely to be there for a while.]

The unsafe conditions, along with the treacherous sidewalks in many areas, are prompting commuters to walk in the street for buses. Metro and other transit agencies acknowledge the troubling conditions but ask commuters for patience and urge them to  be extra careful and stay off the roads.

“We want to make sure people are very cautious,” Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said in a video posted Monday night.  “Let the bus stop, then approach the bus… don’t stand on the street. Stand back.”

For Metro, the transit agency said riders should report snow removal troubles at bus stops to 311 or their respective counties. It reminded customers to not stand in the street to wait for a bus.

In the District, Alexandria and Montgomery, Fairfax and Arlington counties, crews had began to work on snow removal at bus stops, particularly clearing bus shelters, officials said.  But some warned that they are focusing on “top priority locations.”

Mount Rainier went into the blizzard of 2016 thinking they were ready, city officials said.

They had salt. They had plows. But the massive snowfall proved to be a far more formidable foe than expected.

Three of the four snowplows belonging to Mount Rainier are now in a mechanic’s shop. One plow completely broke down in the snow on Sunday. One salt spreader has a broken motor. while the other had to be taken apart and put back together on Monday.

“It was one thing after another,” said Mount Rainier Council member Jesse Christopherson. “Basically, anything that could go wrong did.”

The sheer quantity of snow is challenging enough for larger jurisdictions to remove, but for smaller municipal governments such as Mount Rainier — a one-square-mile city of about 8,500 — the experience has been overwhelming.

Christopherson and Tracy Loh, also an elected city official, pulled shifts at Mount Rainier’s public works department to help take complaint calls from residents, after many of the government employees were unable to come to work. Mount Rainier’s city manager, who is stuck at home in Virginia, is coordinating by phone.

It has been “the perfect storm,” said Loh. “We are talking about record-breaking amounts of snow, and it’s challenging for our equipment because our beautiful historic community has narrow streets and quite a few hills.”

The few city officials who could reach their government offices convened and reconfigured what would be plowed. They used color-coded maps because they had fewer pieces of equipment available for the work. But they still needed more help.

Mount Rainier Mayor Melinda Miles called in favors in nearby Bladensburg, which sent an extra plow to clear snow. The nearby city of Brentwood sent a Bobcat front-loader to help city city dig out. Loh said they were in talks with the much-larger Hyattsville city government for more help.

Meanwhile, impatient residents deluged the city’s listserv, Facebook and other social media accounts with photos of snow-laden alleys, posts about the exact locations of snow drifts and hashtags saying, “Side streets matter.” City leaders say they have tried to respond with timely updates, photos of broken-down plows and mechanics working on their heavy machinery.

“We are realizing that in the modern era of social media and Internet communication … there is a new appetite for information and updates that we did not fully anticipate, and we need to find extra capacity,” Loh said.

Miles, the mayor who is also sick at the same time, said via email: “No matter what we tried, we just could not seem to get the snow moved.”

She went on “Thank God for local municipalities that reached out to help and today, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Still, Loh said, city residents have been mostly patient and helped each other, cheering whenever they see a plow go by. On Mount Rainier’s active Facebook page, residents have posted tips about what local restaurants are open and where to find help with shoveling.

Loh said they are confident that all of Mount Rainier’s streets will be plowed — in some way — by close of business on Tuesday, but there is one area they are worried about.

“Most streets are passable at this point,” she said. “But the hill that puts the mount in Mount Rainier, our biggest hill, has proved problematic.”

D.C.’s Department of Motor Vehicles is giving drivers a break this week, waiving late fees for some vehicle inspections and allowing people to reschedule road tests if they weren’t able to make it to their appointments.

The DMV will waive the $20 late fee for vehicle inspections set to expire between Jan. 23 and Feb. 1.

In addition, if drivers had an appointment for a road test scheduled for a non-commercial driver license, commercial driver license or learner permit scheduled to expire between Jan. 23 and Feb. 1 they can reschedule. Others who had road tests schedule during the week of Jan. 25 can reschedule without having to pay the cancellation fee.

For drivers who have a parking, photo or moving violation for which the fee was due to double between Jan. 25 and Jan. 31 – there will be a grace period until Feb. 1.

Drivers with scheduled hearing during this time period, in which either the customer or the officer did not appear, will automatically be rescheduled without penalty.

James Peoples, 83, and his wife, Lena Peoples, 81. He died on Sunday after shoveling snow off of their car.
(family photo)

His son called last week before the storm arrived, and two of his daughters reached him on Saturday as the blizzard raged overhead. Each delivered the same message: Take it easy. Be careful. Stay inside.

They knew their 83-year-old father. As a kid, James Peoples had worked, mostly barefoot, on his family’s North Carolina tobacco farm, living without electricity or indoor plumbing. As an adult in Washington, he had worked for five decades, mostly as a mover who could bear far more weight than his thin shoulders suggested. On Sunday, his wife of 60 years made a final effort to dissuade him from another day of more work.

“James,” she said, “don’t go out there.”

He did anyway. Their Lincoln Town Car was smothered in snow, and Peoples knew that before long he’d need it again — for groceries, for his wife’s medication, for an elderly neighbor who wanted a ride. So he shoveled and shoveled until the cream-colored paint once again gleamed in the sunlight.

Read the full story.

Crews work to clear snow from Interstate 95 in Northern Virginia. (Courtesy of VDOT)

In Loudoun County, where 36 inches of snow hit some areas, two state department of transportation snowplows lost their blades while carving through the mounds of snow and ice.

The plows were repaired and put back into action, said Jennifer McCord, a Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman.

“It’s not uncommon with this type of storm,” McCord said, about the breakdowns. “We have these crews working 12-hour shifts, 24 hours a day for almost a week now. This equipment being worked that hard, it’s not uncommon to have some breakdowns and some issues with machinery.”

Phyllis Randall, chair of Loudoun’s board of supervisors, said the breakdowns show how complicated the cleanup effort has been in some of the harder hit areas of the region. With the once fluffy snow now hardening, clearing a way for cars and pedestrians has been arduous, prompting the county school system to keep its schools closed through at least Wednesday.

“Loudoun was in the bullseye of the storm,” Randall said. “We received more snow than everyone else in the region.”

Even so, that part of Northern Virginia has been battling to get more plows in its streets as state officials work to clear roadways in nearby Fairfax and Prince William counties.

“We’re competing with all of Northern Virginia,” said Kelly Burk, interim mayor of Leesburg, where residents have complained of local streets remaining untouched. “All of these contractors are working throughout the area.”

Trucks filled with snow from city streets are dumped in the parking lot at RFK Stadium. (Kate Patterson/for The Washington Post)

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said at a noon press conference Tuesday that “good progress” had been made overnight in clearing city streets.

Asphalt could be seen in some spots. But she said the city was still working to “tackle the hardest to reach streets.”

Bowser said one of two major pieces of snow removal equipment from Indiana had arrived. The other was expected to arrive Tuesday.

She urged residents to clear their sidewalks, as kids are expected to return to school. She said the snow emergency route restriction will be lifted at 6:30 p.m., reminding residents to move their cars.

In a Twitter message, Bowser also said “I am pleased to report that all of our public schools are clear and ready to open tomorrow.”

Neighbors on this street in North Potomac pooled their money to hire a private snowplow truck. Then a Montgomery County plow came. Now they can see pavement. (Courtesy of Rachel Boxman)

The neighbors in a small enclave of North Potomac decided to take their plowing problem into their own hands. Many had shoveled out their cars and driveways, but the snow in the street was about 2½ feet high, making it impossible to drive.

Some were running out of groceries. Others had to get back to work, with their offices reopening. One family needed to get a child to a doctor — nothing overly serious, but a concern. Many were feeling stir-crazy.

Rachel Boxman, 47, says she and others were not convinced that Montgomery County’s cleanup crews – who were clearing so many miles of snow-packed roads – would get to their subdivision any time soon.

So they hired a plow.

Late Monday afternoon, the plow showed up and removed snow for an hour and half, at a cost of $375, which many of the 40 neighbors are sharing. The same driver had plowed another area  street a day earlier, which is how Boxman heard of him.

“People were really happy,” she said. “They were so grateful. I think we’re all feeling more normal now.”

Boxman celebrated by going out to dinner Monday night with her family, a niece and a friend. At the restaurant, they talked to a number of other diners about being snowed in.

“We all said how lucky we were to escape,” she said.

On Tuesday morning, a snowplow from Montgomery County had passed through the street, neighbors said — sooner than many had expected.

Still, the plow had blocked some driveways.

“People have been out with their shovels, clearing again,” Boxman said.

(Courtesy of Nate Bergman)

Nate Bergman spent five hours Sunday digging his car out of the snow, and now he wants to make sure that no snow shoveling-moochers take the parking spot.

So, he did what any friendly neighbor would do: He put up a sign telling people that they could park in the spot if they wanted, but that if they did, he would dump all of the snow he dug out back onto the parking spot.

“You are ‘free’ to park anywhere you choose without interference,” the foreboding sign read. “However, please know — if you choose to take this spot — that I will spend the same amount of time, energy, and money to place the snow back in its original space around the vehicle.”

Read the full story.

Authorities around the region urged area residents to also help clear fire hydrants so emergency vehicles could access them in the snow.

Firefighters said covered hydrants can be dangerous because they can freeze and rescuers may not be able to find them quickly during an emergency.

Crews working for the National Park Service were still working — like many in the region — to clear snow from the network of roadways they oversee.

According to Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles, spokeswoman for NPS, Rock Creek Parkway will be closed from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday as crews work to remove snow.

There will be intermittent closures Tuesday afternoon on Suitland Parkway also for snow removal.

NPS is urging drivers to avoid Clara Barton Parkway. Anzelmo-Sarles said that the road is extremely icy and is expected to be closed between Glen Echo and Chain Bridge Road, Carderock and MacArthur Boulevard and the Glen Echo turnaround. Crews there are working to remove excess sow and widen lanes.

Southbound George Washington Memorial Parkway between Route 123 and Spout Run Parkway will be closed this evening from 8 p.m. until 4 a.m. Wednesday.

Usually Fido sniffs for explosives in suitcases at airports. But even K9 units need a break to well, just play in the snow.

Here are some snapshots of dogs who work for the TSA — Transportation Security Administration — doing just that:

Some riders trying to get around the District on Metrobus, but many buses were late. (Luz Lazo/The Washington Post)

If you are taking Metrobus on Tuesday, arm yourself with lots of patience and dress appropriately for long waits at the bus stop.

Metro buses across the region are experiencing delays of up to 35 minutes, the transit agency said early Tuesday, most attributed to icy road conditions.

The region’s bus system is operating on a “severe” weather service plan, which means service is only available on 79 regional routes — less than a third of the system’s 325 routes. Although buses are running their normal weekday schedules, riders should anticipate delays and detours.

Metro is reporting icy road conditions affecting bus travel along some of its busiest lines, including the X2 on Benning Road-H Street NE, the 50s on 14th Street, and the S Line from Silver Spring to downtown along 16th Street NW.  The S2 and S4 briefly stopped serving the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center in Silver Spring early Tuesday, but service to the transit hub has resumed, Metro said.

Riders should also be aware of possible changes to pick-up and drop-off locations. Passengers taking the 5A bus to Dulles International Airport are boarding and exiting at 19th and N Lynn streets in Rosslyn, Metro said.

Metro also reported problems in the Oxon Hill and Greenbelt areas of Prince George’s County and near Montgomery Mall in Montgomery County. Icy roads caused detours on the D12 and D14 buses to the Southern Avenue Metro station and on the J2 and J3 line in Bethesda.

If you are going out Tuesday make sure you have a good commuting plan because bus and rail service won’t be back to normal as the Washington region continues to dig out of last weekend’s historic snow storm. Here are your transit options if you need to get out Tuesday.

For many area residents who spent the weekend and much of Monday digging out cars from huge piles of snow it has become somewhat of a badge of honor.

A few shared on social media. One in a neighborhood in the Baltimore area read, “3 Hours to dig out 5 seconds 2 break ur window.”

https://twitter.com/shawan_j24/status/691985261887000577

And once a spot has been dug out, well so begins the fight to save it.

For others — who seemed perhaps less lucky, there were snapshots of unplowed streets.

And around the region, road crews continued to move the white stuff.

The U.S. Postal Service said it plans to open all post offices Tuesday, though some may open later than normal as clean-up continues after this weekend’s record snow fall in the D.C. region. Mail service is also set to resume in full Tuesday.

The postal service suspended operations Saturday afternoon due to the storm.

At the Metro Center stop, Nina Okiyi, 22, stood Tuesday morning confused, as she looked at the Orange Line train coming her way.

“Ballston?” she said.

She was on her way to a job as a retail associate at the mall in Tysons Corner. But with the Silver Line closed and four stops on the Orange Line also shut down, it wasn’t going to be an easy trip.

[As commuters struggle back to work, storm’s aftermath still chokes rail lines]

Metro said it was running shuttle buses to get around the problem on the Orange Line.

But Okiyi gave up. She opted to go home.

“I’m just a little upset,” she said. “I wish I had watched the news.”

After standing in the cold for 30 minutes at Metro’s West Falls Church stop, where the Orange Line was suspended early Tuesday morning, a crowd of commuters finally gets warm aboard a shuttle bus to the Ballston station. (Paul Duggan/The Washington Post)

Before dawn Tuesday morning at the West Falls Church stop on Metro’s Orange Line a crowd of riders waited — and waited — for a shuttle bus to take them around a trouble spot on the rail line’s western end.

Earlier, moments after the rail system was supposed to open with full service on five of its six rail lines, Metro announced a change: no rail service to four stations on the Orange Line, including Vienna, Dunn Loring, and East and West Falls Church.

That left many riders, especially those who use the Silver Line — also closed because of the snow — in a lurch. Metro said it had shuttle buses to get riders to the Ballston stop, where they could then get on the rail line. But that was little comfort to the growing number of riders waiting in the cold.

To be sure, ridership on Metro is much lower with area schools and the federal government shut down again Tuesday. Normally, about 42,000 riders use those western stops on the Orange Line and the Silver Line on a weekday morning.

Tell that to those waiting in the cold.

Buses came into the station, but many were going to other stops west of there, not heading east, including to Ballston or downtown Washington, where many riders needed to go.

By 7 a.m., patience had worn thin and the crowd had grown to about two dozen.

Bobby Smoot, a service manager for Metro, stood at the stop trying to keep riders up to date using a bullhorn.

He repeated, the “rail station is closed at this time.”

“We’re running shuttle buses.”

As waiting — and cold — riders asked, Where’s the bus to Ballston?

Smoot kept apologizing.

Under his breath, he said: “Oh yeah. Oh yeah. If the government was open there would be ten times as many people here and I would really be in trouble.”

He then said into his bullhorn to the growing and slightly surly crowd, “I apologize, I apologize. … the shuttle buses are coming.”

At one point, two buses in a row came. Smoot got on one and found out that it was headed to Vienna. He told the crowd. They moaned. He apologized.

Kelly Adrian, 55, of Sterling who works on Connecticut Avenue in the District as a trust officer at a bank, normally rides the Silver Line from Wiehle-Reston East stop. She came to West Falls Church Tuesday morning expecting to get an Orange Line train.

“They said they were going to run,” she said, shivering in the cold. “And then I heard on the way here they were not going to run.”

She shook her head.

“I’m a little upset that the Silver Line always seems to be at the bottom of the pecking order. But if they were running here it wouldn’t be that much of an inconvenience. I’m disappointed. But I mean I guess they’re doing the best they can in the situation.”

Not far from her stood another cold rider – Adil Mirza, 30. He usually walks to the West Falls Church stop, where he catches a train to his job as a financial planner near L’Enfant Plaza. He went to bed Monday night thinking there would be Orange Line service. And like most riders at the stop, he wasn’t surprised when he found out they wouldn’t have service.

When he heard there was no service for those four stations Tuesday morning, he said “Again! The usual! Another disappointment!”

He then said: “I’ve traveled around the world. I just came back from Singapore two days ago, and I looked at their transit system.”

“I was in London last month, and I looked at their transit system,” he said. “I understand there’s a problem with funding the Metro system. But there has to be some sort of mechanism for improvement. And I think that’s where the basic problem is.”

Mirza added: “I don’t see fundamental improvements. I’ve been riding from this station to my office for four years now, and it gets progressively worse. The problem is, the bar is set so low, any improvement that does occur they’ll say: ‘See! It’s working now!’ But it’s not working.”

Meanwhile, Smoot continued using his bullhorn to apologize to riders.

Cold and waiting, Metro rider David Greenwood, 53, said he had driven to the station from Falls Church. He’s a technology executive who works in downtown Washington. He rolled his eyes when asked if he went to bed Monday night thinking the Orange Line would be up and running.

“Yeah. They kind of said that, didn’t they?” he said. “This is one of the biggest cities in the country, one of the most preeminent cities. You’d expect something better than this.”

He stood waiting for a bus. After 20 minutes, he turned and started to walk away.

“I’m giving up,” he said. “I might as well work from home.” Then he disappeared down a set of stairs to a parking lot.

Grace Lin, another waiting Metro rider who works as a lawyer in the District and lives in McLean, said she went to bed hearing that Metro was going to be running, but she always has her doubts.

“At 6 a.m. this morning, I checked the website just to see, because their accuracy is not always good,” she said. She saw there were no trains.

“Metro is so fragile,” Lin said. “Immediately I’m thinking, ‘Can I just stay home?’ But not really.”

“The price is too expensive,” she said of Metro fares, and “we have issues when it is too hot, we have issues when it is too cold. I understand there is a lot of maintenance and the system is old. But, please, work harder!”

A worker tries to move a rental car in a reserve lot buried in snow at Dulles International Airport on Monday. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

From Capital Weather Gang:

The massive meltdown continues as several hours of above-freezing weather are in the forecast today, tonight and tomorrow to keep whittling down our winter wonderland. Unfortunately, some showers late today and tonight create a slushier component, but precipitation is not expected to be heavy.

Temperatures cool a bit on Thursday again, but no major cold is anticipated, while Friday and the weekend are trending warmer. We should see 50s by Saturday or Sunday, which could be the death blow to much of the snow.

Today (Tuesday): Small patches of light freezing rain or drizzle are possible in far northwest Maryland into the Martinsburg area this morning, so take caution if you are out on the roads. Our warming and melting trend picks up another notch as temperatures surge ahead of an approaching cold front. Partly to mostly cloudy skies with warmer morning temperatures allow highs to reach the mid-to-upper 40s. A slight chance of rain showers show up by late afternoon into evening.  Light winds from the south at 5 to 10 mph. Confidence: Medium

– Matt Rogers

Arlington County government offices will open at noon today.

The County Board, which postponed its meeting Saturday because of the blizzard, will reconvene today at 3 p.m. Public schools in Arlington remain closed.

A view of crews cleaning snow with heavy equipment on Interstate 66 near Sully Road. (Courtesy of VDOT Northern Virginia)

Roads in Northern Virginia are “mostly in passable condition” Tuesday morning, but anyone who doesn’t have to be on the road should stay home, Virginia Department of Transportation officials said.

VDOT said motorists should stay off the roads to give snow removal equipment more room, but anyone who must drive should “use extreme caution” because of melting snow that has likely refrozen on asphalt overnight.

High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) restrictions are lifted because of the federal government’s closure, VDOT said, but anyone out driving should expect limited visibility from high mounds of snow encroaching on merge lanes, intersections and ramps. And even roads that have been plowed enough to be considered “passable” aren’t cleared curb to curb. Expect only one lane on some, VDOT said.

It’s not a great day for commuters around the region.

Metro said its buses are experiencing delays across the system of up to 35 minutes.

MARC’s commuter rail service also said it has delays of up to 25 minutes on some of its rail lines. The delays are related to the weather, as the region digs out from more than two feet of snow.

Ridership is lower than a normal weekday because the federal government is closed, along with scores of area school systems.

[Here are your transit options if you need to get out Tuesday]

At Metro’s Largo Town Center stop, riders weren’t pleased.

They said they were frustrated at the infrequency of trains. The boards telling when the next train were coming were no help.

Many woke up to find a last minute change from what Metro had said the day before. Instead of running full service on all of its lines — except for the Silver Line — Metro cut back on servicing four stops on the western end of the Orange Line. Trains aren’t stopping at the following stations — Vienna, Dunn Loring, West Falls Church and East Falls Church.

[No service on Metro’s Orange Line between Vienna and Ballston stop]

That’s a major blow for some 42,000 customers who use that part of the Orange Line and its new Silver Line, leaving them with shuttle buses to get around to the rail system.

And that’s no easy task either when the region is digging out of two feet of snow and many secondary roads aren’t showing blacktop.

Metro riders weren’t all smiles Tuesday.

After arriving at the station at 6:23 a.m., Riahna Billops, 29, waited for 25 minutes before boarding a Blue Line train at the Largo Town Center stop.

The long wait meant she would be late for a shift as a nurse at George Washington University Hospital.

Billops said she braved icy roads to get to work on Monday, paying $25 to park in a garage. She was contemplating doing the same Tuesday. It didn’t help that there was no indication of when a train might arrive.

“I’m about to get in my car and drive,” she said Tuesday. “It’s frustrating sometimes. They never put information up there.”

Yep.

Virginia Railway Express (VRE) said there is no rail service Tuesday for its riders.

This comes as riders on rail systems have dealt with days of no service or limited service on Metro and MARC as well. Amtrak service has also been impacted by the historic snowfall that fell over the weekend.

[Here are your transit options if you need to get out Tuesday]

Because of snow and ice on the third rail, Metro’s Orange Line isn’t servicing Vienna, Dunn Loring, West Falls Church and East Falls Church this morning. That’s a blow for those who use the Silver Line, which is closed because that area got higher levels of snow than the rest of the region and crews have been working to remove it from tracks and stations.

Those four stops are important for those who ride the Silver Line, because they provide an alternative when that line is closed. Now, Silver Line riders don’t have that option and have to take a shuttle bus to Ballston.

Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said it is not immediately known when trains will run to those four stations. He said it would depend on temperatures warming, as crews continue to try to keep ice and snow off those tracks.

Another problem, he said, is that those stations are in the middle of highways so there is limited room to plow the snow away. He said crews are creating snow banks but the snow has at times fallen back onto the rail.

The closing of the four stops on the Orange Line, plus the Silver Line’s closing, affects about 42,000 customers on an average weekday, according to Metro. But officials noted that Metro’s ridership Tuesday will be much lighter because the federal government and most schools are closed.

A close-up of the third rail that is covered with ice and snow as Metro trains sit waiting to be de-iced at a switching yard in Alexandria. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)

Metro announced a change early Tuesday to its plan to open five of its six rail lines after overnight trains had problems with snow and ice on the tracks in Northern Virginia.

There is no train service on the Orange Line between the Vienna and Ballston stops. Metro officials said there is damage to the third rail of the track. That third rail helps provide power to run the trains. Riders are advised to use the Ballston stop, Metro said. There is shuttle bus service available.

That means riders won’t be able to get to the following stops: Vienna, Dunn Loring, West Falls Church and East Falls Church.

Metro, whose rail system shut down over the weekend, reopened some stations on a few lines Monday and had said that all of its lines — except for the Silver Line — would reopen for the Tuesday morning rush hour.

But those plans changed, Metro officials said, when they realized there was a problem of ice and snow getting back on the third rail in the western stretch of the Orange Line. When test trains were run overnight in that stretch of the Orange Line, they stopped because the “collector shoes,” a piece of equipment that connects to the third rail and gives the train power to run would hit a patch of snow or ice, according to Metro. When a collector shoe hits snow or ice sometimes it gets damaged or the train just stops, according to Metro officials.

“The last thing we want to do is put passengers out on the railroad where they become disabled,” said Metro spokesman Dan Stessel early Tuesday morning. “We’ve made a change to our game plan.”

“In the interest of safety and an abundance of caution,” he said they made the decision to not run trains for riders to those four stops.

The D.C. region continued to dig out all day Monday from the record-setting snowstorm.

Airports gradually cleared runways but airlines still suffered delays. Crews worked throughout the region to plow roads on neighborhood streets. Residents dealt with cabin fever. And more schools announced closings.

Here’s everything you need to know about the snow:

• Here’s what schools are closed Tuesday
• Cleanup in D.C. after historic blizzard could stretch for days
• Will the roads improve enough for the government to open tomorrow?
• Photos: What the D.C. area looks like after the epic blizzard
• Where Snowzilla fits into D.C.’s top 10 snowstorms
• The laws and fines for not shoveling snow in the D.C. area
• The people responsible for measuring D.C.’s snowfall total lost their tool — in the snow
• Are you a blizzard wimp or a blizzard warrior?

A Virginia State Police trooper checks on a snowplow along Route 10 in Loudoun County during the storm. (Courtesy of Virginia State Police)

Authorities throughout the region warned drivers to be careful as temperatures are expected to drop overnight.

There is concern that roads with melted snow could freeze over again. Take caution to avoid black ice, the Virginia State Police warned.

That state police department said that since the start of the storm Friday through Monday morning, it had a 47 percent increase in crashes and a 69 percent increase  in disabled vehicle calls compared to the previous weekend in January.

Maryland Sen. Brian J. Feldman found himself snowbound at his Potomac home Monday morning, but that didn’t stop him from making his way to Annapolis for the legislative session that is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.

Feldman (D-Montgomery) lives close to a major road that was cleared by road crews, but his own street was covered with snow and impassable by car.

“We were pretty packed in,” he said.

His solution: Hitch a ride with Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery), whose neighborhood roads were clear.

But then Kagan discovered a flat tire, and the two mechanic shops she stopped at were closed.

So Feldman turned to Plan B: Hopping a ride with Sen. Nancy King (D-Montgomery).

Feldman hiked to the main road near his home, and King fetched him for the ride to Annapolis. Kagan ended up calling a friend to help her fix the flat, and she was soon on her way as well.

Officials said public schools in the District will remain closed Tuesday but that government offices will reopen. Schools will reopen Wednesday.

Schools and city offices were closed as the region dealt with snow cleanup.

Metro said its buses will operate under a “severe” weather service plan Tuesday.

Metro’s general manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said at an afternoon news conference that the plan will put more buses on the road while the Washington region continues cleanup efforts after the weekend’s massive snowstorm. Service will be available on 79 regional routes, and buses will operate on their normal weekday schedules, Metro said.

“Only the major routes will have bus service, and only on the busiest portions of each route,” the transit agency said.

This level of service is an improvement over what was provided Monday when Metro ran service on just  24 bus routes, and only from noon to 5 p.m.

Bus riders should continue to expect delays and detours, Metro said.

On its rail system, Metro said it will open all but one of its rail lines Tuesday. The Silver Line will remain closed.

Montgomery County had already said its public schools would close Tuesday.

Now it says its school offices, as well as child care and activities in school buildings, will also be closed for the day.

[List of weather closures in the D.C. area for Tuesday, Jan. 26]

A close-up of the third rail,  covered with ice and snow, as Metro trains sit waiting to be deiced at a switching yard in Alexandria on Monday. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)

Metro lines are stirring again as operations gradually return after a weekend shut down by snow conditions.

Almost 100 passengers poured out of the Ballston Metro stop in Arlington, where outbound Orange Line service was ending, during the normally sleepy pre-rush hour at 3 p.m. In the District, a inbound Green line train started becoming standing-room-only as it passed through downtown on its way from Southeast Washington.

Molly Sykes, a federal employee who had the day off since the government was closed, waited 20 minutes at stations to get from Capitol South to Columbia Heights. Echoing other riders’ frustrations, she said the system’s inability to fully function two days after the blizzard “seems a little pathetic.”

Gwendolyn Cooper, who hopped on the Orange line at Minnesota Avenue to head downtown, was more forgiving.

“For our own protection, it’s all right,” said Cooper, who was waiting for a Green Line train to take her to a Walmart on Riggs Road NE. “I don’t know why people are complaining. If they are stuck, they’ll be be complaining, too.”

Metro said it plans to reopen service on most of its rail lines, except for the Silver Line, on Tuesday. Some of its bus routes will also resume service.

[Cleanup in D.C. after historic blizzard could stretch for days]

Home trash and recycling pick-up in Prince George’s will remain suspended given the continued bad road conditions.

Certain landfills and some of the services at those sites will be available to the public starting Tuesday.

In a statement, the county said: “Residents are asked to remain patient while the County makes every effort to resume services in a safe and timely manner.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Monday that the state of emergency issued Friday remains in effect until further notice.

The state of emergency allows the Maryland National Guard to continue to assist police officers and local governments.

“I ask that Marylanders continue to be cautious, safe, and be on the roads as little as possible,” Hogan said in a statement. “Local authorities, particularly, will need time to dig out.”

A D.C. snowplow that got stuck on a street in Chevy Chase. (Courtesy of Page Kennedy)

Christmas in January, courtesy of Snowzilla?

A massive snowplow sat abandoned on a Chevy Chase street for so long over the weekend that it became a glimmering neighborhood fixture, festooned with holiday lights.

Page Kennedy, a D.C. area attorney, said the snowplow came trundling down 33rd Street NW around 6 p.m. Saturday and nearly clipped her Lexus SUV.

The driver, concerned that he could not maneuver the truck up the street without bumping into cars, apparently bailed on foot. The truck was still blocking the street the next day, even after residents had consulted city officials. Neighbors teamed up to dig out the cars in its path, and reported to city officials that the truck was basically ready to move.

Twenty-four hours after the driver ditched it, the truck remained in the road.

“We thought maybe it was going to become a permanent fixture in the neighborhood, so we decided to decorate it,” Kennedy said.

Every time Aura Kanegis looked out the window over the weekend, the truck was still in the road. Kanegis, 41, said it was frustrating to have the road blocked. But the decorated piece of machinery was a hit with her kids, 4 and 7. Her 7-year-old, Kai, said it was “like having a Christmas tree all over again.”

The office of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser told The Post’s Moriah Balingit on Sunday that it was working to get a tow truck to pull the massive plow off the street, but it was not clear when that would happen.

The time apparently came early Monday morning. When Kanegis and her children awoke Monday, the Christmas truck was gone.

“It really made what would have been sort of a grumbling situation into a festive neighborhood thing,” Kanegis said. “We kind of miss the truck. Especially since they still haven’t plowed the road.”

A tow truck came to move the vehicle overnight, residents said, at least 30 hours after it initially became stuck.

Neither the District Department of Transportation nor the Department of Public Works immediately responded to requests for additional information. It was unclear which agency was responsible for the truck, and whether it was a city or contracted vehicle.

A one-way street in D.C. — Somerset Place NW — becomes a dead-end with no snow plow. (Justin Jouvenal/The Washington Post)

The snow in the middle of Roxboro Place NW looks as fresh as when it fell over the weekend, save for some boot prints and ski tracks.

A plow pushed a wall of snow a little way up neighboring Somerset Place NW and then left.

In both cases, residents of the Manor Park/Brightwood neighborhood are facing the same problem: Unplowed streets more than 36 hours after the snow stopped falling.

Plows have attempted to make runs down both streets, but the narrowness of the one-way thoroughfares and the volume of the snow have forced them to abandon their work. In some cases, plows have left heaping mounds of snow in the middle of the roads, making the situation worse.

The one-way streets have effectively become dead-ends, with residents’ cars trapped.

“I understand why they didn’t get to these streets at first because they are side streets, but it’s been two days,” said Treyvon Curtis, a resident of Somerset Place.

A group of Somerset Place residents took matters into their own hands Monday afternoon, shoveling out the middle of the street for several hours. Still, large amounts of snow remained.

Dorn Muscar Jr. and his wife, Carolynn, helped people shovel their drives in Prince George’s County. (Hamil Harris/The Washington Post)

For some, unplowed residential streets were something to complain about on social media. Others took it as an opportunity to share their faith.

In Hyattsville, Dorn Muscar Jr., minister at the University Park Church of Christ, led a caravan of cars with church members and shovels to help  people get snow off their driveways and walkways.

The caravan of four cars included members who are off from work because the federal government is closed.

“This was a critical time that we needed to come together as a church” said Muscar, standing next to his wife, Carolynn, who normally works as a counselor. “We got a few members together and formed snow crews to help some of our members who need assistance. ”

As the Muscars walked back to their car, they hugged each other. “It has been fun and tiring,” Dorn Muscar said.

Another one to add to the list of school closings.

Prince George’s County public schools said they will be closed Tuesday.

Dozens of schools around the region closed Monday and Tuesday as the snow cleanup continues.

Ordered that snowsuit for your kid at the last minute and wanted it delivered overnight? Too bad.

In an email to customers, officials at United Parcel Service said that despite recovery efforts, there continue to be delivery disruptions in the District, Maryland and Virginia. In some cases, there are no pick-ups or deliveries being done.

While UPS has contingency plans in place to get shipments to customers as soon as possible, some deliveries may still be delayed. The email also noted that UPS service guarantees don’t apply when “transportation networks are disrupted due to events of this nature.”

If customers have a tracking number, they can check the status of a package at UPS.com.

Waiting at a D.C. bus stop with a lot of snow. (Luz Lazo/The Washington Post)

Eric Worthy was glad Metro resumed bus service at noon Monday. A daily Metrobus rider, Worthy had no complaints even though his commute from his Southeast Washington home to work at a Safeway on Wisconsin Avenue in Northwest Washington took him twice as much time, two bus transfers and a Metrorail ride.

“It was terrible, but I know they are trying to do their best,” said Worthy, 44, of Southeast Washington. “I thank God for public transportation.”

An hour late to work because buses didn’t start running until noon, Worthy still wasn’t sure how he would get back home after his shift ends at 8 p.m.  His best shot, he said, will be walking two miles up the hill to the Tenleytown Metro station.

“I can walk if I have to, but are you sure there will be no bus?” he asked. “We need buses, seriously.”

Only 24 Metro bus routes are running Monday — and the service is limited to every half hour and between noon and 5 p.m. The bus service, after a weekend of a total shutdown of the Metrorail and bus systems because of the massive snowstorm, was a relief for many commuters who depend on the bus to get around.  But the message that only a selected number of buses would be operating didn’t seem to get to many riders.

Some commuters were left waiting for buses that never came Monday.  In Friendship Heights, a young man waited 30 minutes for an L8 bus to Aspen Hill, only to learn from another commuter that the L8 wasn’t one of the two dozen lines in service.

For those riding the bus, getting on and off it was a challenge. Piles of snow blocked bus stops across the region. Those waiting had to climb over the snow to board. Others waited on dangerous spots on the side of the road.

“This is crazy,” said Brianna Winter after waiting 15 minutes to board a bus at the McPherson Square bus stop on I street NW.  She stood on the side of road, as close as she could get to the two  feet of snow between the sidewalk and the road. She worried each time a car drove by her to make the right turn at 15th Street NW.

“They could do a better job for pedestrians,” she said. “They don’t want you driving but when you go out, there’s no easy or safe way to get to the bus.”

She said she knows residents have been urged to stay home, but some have no choice.

“People have things to do. They have to work,” she said.

Some riders trying to get around D.C. on Metrobus but many routes weren’t running at full service levels. (Luz Lazo/The Washington Post)

Winter, 34, is 10 weeks pregnant and couldn’t change an afternoon appointment at George Washington University hospital.  She put on her best boots and hoped for the best. She took two buses instead of her usual No. 80 bus, which didn’t run Monday.  She waited 20 minutes for the X2 near her Benning Road NE home, then transferred to the No. 33 at McPherson Square.

“It’s going to be crazy,” she said she thought as she began her trip. An hour later, while waiting at McPherson Square, she felt that same way. “Look at all that snow. It’s crazy. It’s terrible.”

Metro will operate five of its six rail lines Tuesday and the bus service will run on most of its routes in the D.C. region.

The Silver Line will not run. The other rail lines and stations on the transit system will open at their regular time of 5 a.m. Wait times are expected to be roughly 12 minutes.

Parking fees and regular fares for riding the bus and rail will also be reinstated. On Monday, rides were free as the system’s bus and rail lines only had limited service in the region after the megastorm.

Officials would not commit to the Silver Line being reopened, but said 86 of its 91 stations will be reopened by Tuesday. Depending on the safety of the others, they will roll out reopenings.

The general manager of Metro said crews have been working nonstop to clear stations and parking lots.

Many around the region were upset Monday  to still be stuck on snow-covered streets after this weekend’s storm slammed the D.C. region.

So they did what many do in this age of technology — they took to social media to vent. Using the hashtag #StillNoPlows, many people put up messages on social media.

Here’s a sampling of the Tweets:

Metro said its trains on the Blue and Yellow lines are now servicing the Braddock Road stop.

They had previously had limited service on several rail lines and at a few stops. Gradually, Metro said it is trying to get its rail lines cleared and its operations back to normal.

The rail system and bus routes shut down over the weekend during the historic snowfall.

Most post offices in the D.C. region reopened Monday but mail service was limited.

Theresa R. Doherty, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, said service would improve throughout the week.

Doherty urged residents and businesses to keep sidewalks, steps and the area around mailboxes free of ice and snow so letter carriers could safely deliver mail.

Area post offices were closed or had limited hours in the blizzard, and mail delivery was stalled.

President Obama joked that he shoveled snow.

The comment came after he left the White House in the afternoon and walked down the colonnade to the residence area. He then headed to the doors of Marine One, which was waiting in its normal spot on a large patch of the lawn that had been cleared of snow, according to a White House pool report.

“I shoveled all this stuff,” Obama said jokingly, making a shoveling motion with his hands when he was asked about the snowstorm.

He then boarded the helicopter for Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Snow removers clear the runways at Dulles International Airport in the aftermath of the big blizzard on Jan. 24 in Dulles, Va. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

It was a day of slow recovery at the region’s three area airports after the weekend blizzard.

Two of the major airports’ seven runways reopened in the morning – one at Dulles International Airport and another at Reagan International Airport, allowing the flight hubs to service passengers for the first time since the storm walloped the region.

At MWAA — the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority — spokesman Chris Paolino said he is hopeful that another runway at each airport can go back into service by the end of the day, but he did not have an immediate timetable for their reopening. Dulles International Airport has four runways, while Reagan National has three.

The runway closures meant reduced capacity to handle flights.

Nearly 40 percent of flights originating out of Dulles were canceled by Monday afternoon – at a rate second only to Newark-Liberty International Airport, which was also struck by the storm, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.com. At National, 27 percent of originating flights were cancelled, the site said.

By 2:30 p.m., the flight tracking site said, more than 450 flights had been cancelled between the two airports, which host an estimated 1,400 combined flights on a typical Monday. Paolino said a sizable proportion of the cancellations were issued by airlines during weekend. But reopening the runways to eliminate further cancellations was a priority, he said.

“I think we expect to start increasing capacity throughout the day and certainly into tomorrow,” Paolino said. “We’re looking to get a second one at each airport up and running, hopefully by today, and that gives us a little wiggle room,” he said.

Trucks filled with snow from city streets are dumped in a huge piles in the parking lot at RFK Stadium. (Kate Patterson for The Washington Post)

You can’t just shovel it and plow it and blow it and scoop it. You have to have somewhere to put it. And with more than two feet of snow having fallen over the weekend across much of the region, putting it somewhere became a top priority for cities and counties and businesses and schools as they raced to turn the Washington area into a more navigable iceberg.

“It’s challenging, it’s going very slow,” said Richard Dorsey, chief of Montgomery County’s Division of Highway Services, on Monday.

The county has 800 pieces of equipment plowing, salting and hauling snow along its 5,000 miles of roadway. Seventy percent of the work is being done by contractors who push and plow snow to intersections, where dump trucks are picking it up and moving it to five drop locations across the county.

Snow plows get all the attention, but front-end loaders and dump trucks are the unheralded soldiers of snow-removal campaigns.

Read the full story.

Prince George’s County police identified a man who died Sunday after shoveling snow outside his Fort Washington home as 60-year-old George Campbell.

Campbell collapsed about 9 a.m. in front of his home in the 1200 block of Sandy Bar Drive.

Two other men have died in possible weather-related incidents in Prince George’s, through authorities have not released their identities.

[At least nine people in Maryland, Virginia and the District have died in incidents related to the blizzard]

Schools in Alexandria and Arlington are closed Tuesday.

Alexandria city schools said they would remain closed Tuesday. And Arlington County schools said they will close Wednesday as well.

Area school systems have said their decisions are being made based on the clearing of snow from area streets. In Arlington, county officials said many smaller neighborhood streets were still not cleared.

Most of us are getting tired of the snow dumped from the blizzard this weekend. But giant panda Tian Tian just can’t get enough of the white stuff. The National Zoo put out video showing him playing in it.

No visitors are allowed at the facility, which is closed because of the blizzard, as crews are still working to remove snow.

The zoo said it will remain closed Tuesday.

[Tian Tian the panda makes a snow angel, sort of]

Travelers along the East Coast continued to recover from the historic blizzard that hit the area over the weekend.

Those who had hoped to fly Monday still encountered problems as flights have not fully resumed. More than 1,500 flights scheduled for Monday were canceled by midday, the bulk of those in New York and Washington, according to FlightAware.com, which tracks air travel.

Since Friday, more than 12,000 flights have been canceled, as the storm effectively shut down most air travel in the Northeast corridor, home to several of the country’s most-visited airports.

[East Coast digs out after blizzard as flights, transit remain snarled]

In New York, where the snowfall total wound up just shy of a record, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said that after the weekend’s service cancellations, most transit options were back up and running by Monday.

Central Park saw 26.8 inches of snow Friday and Saturday, making it the second-biggest snowstorm on record there, trailing only the 26.9 inches that fell in February 2006, according to the National Weather Service.

In Philadelphia, where the snow emergency was lifted Sunday night, city government reopened Monday morning while the schools remained closed.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which operates around the Philadelphia area, began to resume service Sunday. Regional rail service, which had been suspended, was largely restored Monday, with authorities warning of delays as some trains had not been used for more than two days.

Metro said it is restoring service at its above-ground stations on the Blue and Yellow lines.

The transit system has been running limited service Monday on just a few lines as it deals with cleanup from the weekend snowstorm.

The Braddock Road station remains closed, Metro said. Trains are running every 20 to 25 minutes and the system will remain open until midnight.

Arlington County officials said all main thoroughfares and many secondary roads in the Northern Virginia suburb are plowed, though smaller neighborhood streets are still packed with snow and not suitable for driving.

“We saw a number of neighborhood streets that haven’t been touched yet and we keep hearing about them and I understand how frustrating that is for people,” said Libby Garvey, chair of the county board, after an afternoon tour of the county.

Garvey said the county has tripled its usual snowstorm cleanup efforts, employing 150 drivers on plows and other equipment to get the county back to normal as soon as possible.

Some problems remain.

For example, the plowed roads are still not fully functional, Garvey said. Many have only narrow passageways, allowing for one lane of cars instead of two. With sidewalks still unplowed, the mixture of pedestrians and cars on those roads means a greater risk for traffic accidents.

Drivers should “be aware of people walking in the streets, because that’s where they’ve got to go,” Garvey said, though she asked county residents to remain off the streets altogether while road crews do their jobs.

Also, many county storm drains are clogged with snow – either from the storm or because a snow plow pushed a mound of snow over them.

With Tuesday’s forecast calling for rain, that raises concerns over potential flooding in the county, Garvey said.

“We’re trying to clear up that snow but there’s only so much you can do in a short period of time,” she said, asking residents to help with the county’s efforts to deal with the stormdrain problem.

Finally, Garvey asked residents to remain patient with the county workers trying to deal with the problem as quickly and safely as possible.

“People are working hard,” Garvey said of county employees. “The mood is good, people are upbeat.”

But “they’re also exhausted,” she said. “People are on multiple shifts. Everybody gets tired.”

Several popular museums are expected to open Tuesday.

The Natural History, Air & Space, American Art museums, and National Portrait Gallery are expected to open Tuesday.

Much of official Washington and its tourist attractions were shut down over the weekend because of the heavy snowfall that hit the region.

On Monday, the D.C. region didn’t have too much traffic on roadways or riders on Metro. But many Washingtonians are eager to figure out what road conditions will be like for the morning commute Tuesday.

What do we know at this moment? No big details yet.

Officials with several transit agencies in the Washington region say they are still assessing road conditions and whether it will be possible to safely resume transit operations Tuesday.  Most are expected to announce Tuesday’s plan Monday afternoon or evening.

Metro, D.C. Circulator and Fairfax Connector offered limited service Monday. Most other commuter bus and rail service in the region was suspended Monday as the region digs out after the weekend’s historic snowstorm.

“When you’re stuck in a blizzard, and there are limited ingredients around, you must compromise,” wrote Instagram user carofogg, who attempted cookies with only three ingredients. While some people were completely prepared for the storm, others cobbled together meals from what was in their pantries. Several people put a twist on the classic snow cream, spiking it with bourbon or Kahlua.

Share your own interesting creations or snacks on Instagram with the hashtag #snowfoodwp for a chance to be featured on our website or social channels.

Click through below to see the most inventive blizzard foods.

A snowplow caught fire in upper Northwest D.C. No one was injured. (Amy Joyce/The Washington Post)

A snowplow on a truck caught fire Monday afternoon in upper Northwest. No one was injured.

The incident happened around 1:40 p.m. near Utah and Tennyson streets NW in the Barnaby Woods neighborhood. When firefighters arrived, a plow was fully engulfed in the flames, according to D.C. Fire Department spokesman Timothy Wilson.

The fire was extinguished before 2 p.m., he said. The cause is under investigation.

Metro spokesman Dan Stessel says that in addition to the 24 mostly outdoor stations that were reopened at 11 a.m., the transit agency tentatively plans to reopen several more this afternoon and is “hoping for” a fully open rail system for Tuesday.

But he could not be sure. And if the system does entirely reopen, the wait times for trains could still be longer than normal, he said.

Deborah Yarbrough, left, reached Dulles airport from Dubai and was trying to get to her home in Temple Hills, Md., after the weekend’s big snow storm. (Fenit Nirappil/The Washington Post)

For Deborah Yarborough, the transatlantic flight from Dubai to Dulles International Airport was a breeze. But she was dreading the 45-minute drive to her neighborhood in Temple Hills, Md. — “emphasis on the hills,” she said.

The streets had not been plowed, her family told her, and they couldn’t get to their car to pick her up. She could take a taxi, but it would have to drop her at least a few blocks from home. How would she lug three packed suitcases and her overflowing Prada purse through waist-deep snow in her Reeboks sneakers?

“I was at the beach yesterday in the sun. I was dressed for Dubai,” said Yarborough, 68, who had been vacationing with two friends and was now mulling a stay in an airport hotel.

Two days after the blizzard, Washington-area airports were stirring with life again on Monday, with some flights resuming, and passengers once again arriving and leaving. But like Yarborough, many air travelers who landed at Dulles found themselves dealing with a new set of problems: cancelled connections, snowed-in cars in the parking lots and unreachable homes.

Fifi Yoder was returning to her rural home in Rockville, Va., near Richmond, with her husband and three boys, after two months in Durban, South Africa. The tiny town is rarely plowed, she said, and they would probably have to scale the gate of the fence around their home in order to get it open.

“I have a feeling it’s not going to be easy,” she said.

Operations at Reagan National, Dulles International and Baltimore-Washington International Marshall airports were limited and cancellations could persist through the week. Security lines were short on Monday, but there were long waits at customs, with a backlog of international arrivals. At ticket counters, there were snaking lines filled with passengers whose flights had been cancelled and who were trying to rebook.

Helen Gebre-Amlak was supposed to fly to Dulles from Ethiopia on Friday. After three flight cancellations, she arrived at Dulles Monday morning, only to find that her flight home to Kansas City had been cancelled as well. She was waiting for her sister, who lives in Baltimore, to pick her up, in hopes that she could catch a flight from BWI to Kansas City on Tuesday.

“You are expected to get snow here, it’s not like Dallas or Atlanta where it snows once in a while,” the software engineer said. “You expect them to clean up fast and go operational now. It’s four days, and I’m still stuck.”

Chantelle Huyser, a 22-year-old au pair from Johannesburg, was supposed to catch a connecting flight to Newark. But she had no shot at a seat until Tuesday, so her host family decided to drive down to pick her up. The silver (more like bright white) lining in the inconvenience? This was her first time seeing such heavy snowfall.

While the roads around Dulles have been cleared, the parking lots at the airport are a different story entirely. Vast lots were completely blanketed, with cars packed in and covered, and Bobcats and snowplows creating piles as high as 15 feet in order to clear paths. Chris Paolino, spokesman for Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said crews have limited space to work in. He urged arriving passengers to park in garages instead of lots for the time being.

Crews were working to clear snow from a parking lot at Dulles airport Monday. (Fenit Nirappil/The Washington Post)

“Oh my God,” muttered Michael Fratto, as he rode the shuttle to the Green Lot. When he reached his sedan, he found snow as high as the roof blocking his way to the doors. Some other intrepid passengers on the shuttle were carrying shovels with them, which they said they had brought on their trips because of the forecasted snow. But Fratto had not had such foresight.

The Frederick resident, who was returning from his brother’s wedding in Mexico, managed to borrow a shovel from a member of a crew working to dig out the lot. The two men worked together, and got a little help from Fratto’s girlfriend, Cierra Phillieo, who tried to use a flattened cardboard box to shovel, as best she could. After about five minutes, they got the driver’s-side doors open. The couple headed to Charlottesville, where Philleo teaches. Fratto, whose neighborhood isn’t plowed out yet, said he would probably stay the night.

Michael Fratto and Cierra Philleo dug their car out of a parking lot at Dulles airport. (Fenit Nirappil/The Washington Post)

Interstate 66 in Warren County as crews work to clear snow. (Courtesy of Virginia State Police)

Virginia State Police said crews are continuing to clear roads from the weekend’s big snowstorm.

They warned area residents that roads remain slick and icy in some spots — in particular where “snow is packed down on a road and shaded sections of the roads,” according to a statement from Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.

As of 1:30 p.m., the state police were on the scene of 15 traffic crashes statewide. Seven of those were in Northern Virginia.

Part of the George Washington Parkway will remain closed until 3 p.m.

The parkway is closed on the northbound side between Spout Run Park in Arlington and Chain Bridge Road in Fairfax. Crews are working to remove snow in the area.

Find another route, authorities warn.

Snow removers clear the runways at Dulles International Airport. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

An estimated 1,500 flights scheduled to arrive and depart in the Washington region stayed grounded this weekend as airport crews cleared runways of record snowfall, throwing travel plans around the world into chaos.

Cancellations are expected to persist through Monday.

Reagan National and Dulles International airports were closed Sunday and are expected to resume limited service Monday. Flights started landing again Sunday at the lone open runway at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport.

Meanwhile outbound travelers are stuck at nearby hotels, and those trying to return home are forced to figure out how to extend their stays.

Read the full story.

Maryland’s legislature hasn’t canceled a session due to inclement weather in nearly six years, and Monday doesn’t look to be any different.

The state General Assembly plans to convene at its regularly scheduled time on Monday night, despite much of Maryland still digging out from the winter storm that blanketed the region with snow over the weekend.

Maryland’s Constitution requires the legislature to hold session each year for 90 days and make up any missed dates. The General Assembly last cancelled floor proceedings in 2010 and 2003, both times on Mondays and because of winter storms.

The session resumes in Annapolis at 8 p.m. Monday — sessions generally start in the morning, except on Mondays.

The legislature’s presiding officers decide whether to cancel a session during times of inclement weather.

Alexandra Hughes, chief of staff for Maryland House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel), said postponing is rare. “Given that the legislature is in session only 90 days per year, we almost never cancel session,” she said.

General Assembly rules allow “legislative days” to last virtually any amount of time, from a few minutes to several calendar days, depending upon what lawmakers need to accomplish. Multiple short sessions can be lumped into one day if necessary, such as for makeup dates.

We have six cans of Diet Coke left. There are two cinnamon raisin bagels remaining. The street is not plowed. There is not even the sound of nearby plows. The kids? They are at war. The parents? Trying to hide. With each passing moment, my blood pressure rises.

Cabin fever has set in.

If there is any comfort in cabin fever — besides cozy blankets, but I’m even annoyed at those — it is knowing that cabin fever is a legitimate feeling. It is legit because it has been studied. And not just studied. STUDIED BY MINNESOTANS.

Read the full story.

Not surprisingly, independent contractors, such as Rockville-based Jack Orr, are swamped.

He runs his own service with a plow and a snowblower, and has been overwhelmed with calls since the region got slammed with snow. He has several commercial contracts to clear the parking lots and entranceways around schools, churches and condominiums, and has been working virtually nonstop since the storm hit.

He’s telling his residential clients who have called that he won’t be free until the end of the week.

He had been clearing snow from a nursery school in Potomac since 6 a.m. Monday morning. But nearly seven hours later, “I’m not even halfway done,” he said. The school is planning to reopen on Wednesday.

In some places, he has had to plow up to 38 inches of snow. He usually hires a crew to help shovel, but hasn’t been able to find enough workers.

Staff writer Lena Sun contributed to this story.

It’s baacccckkk!!

The D.C. Taxi Commission has reenacted its emergency taxi fare, hours after it said the $15 flat fee was being lifted. The emergency rate means a $15 surcharge is added to any ride in addition to the metered fare.

“The Chairman of the DC Taxicab Commission (DCTC) has determined that the authorization for District taxicabs to charge the Snow Emergency Fare is extended until further notice,” the commission said in a statement Monday.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the change. Taxi Commission spokesman Neville Waters said “Safety is still a concern and we will revisit as conditions improve.”

Earlier in the day, taxi officials had said they were dropping the surcharge which had been in place during the snowstorm.

Two adults and six children in Southeast Washington were transported Monday to a hospital because of a possible carbon monoxide leak.

A defective furnace may be to blame, said a tweet from the D.C. Fire department. The eight people were transported from the 1500 block of 41st Street in Southeast.

Further details were not yet available.

The roof collapsed at church in Montgomery County. (Courtesy of Montgomery County Fire department)

Authorities in Montgomery County said a building belonging to a church partially collapsed, and it was likely due to the weight of heavy snow.

The incident happened Monday in the 14000 block of New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring. The building is a sanctuary auxiliary building of Shiloh Christian Fellowship, fire officials said. No one was injured, and the building was not occupied at the time of the incident, according to Pete Piringer, a spokesman at Montgomery County Fire department.

A building inspector has been notified, according to county firefighters. The building is unsafe to occupy, and power has been shut down.

Officials said there is no fire hazard.

The Supreme Court takes an almost perverse pride in staying open when the rest of official Washington closes. And so five of the nine showed up Monday morning to issue opinions to a courtroom almost devoid of civilians.

It appeared that perhaps only one spectator was in the audience, vastly outnumbered by law clerks and court security officials.

The justices were issuing opinions, rather than hearing oral arguments, so not all needed to be there. Among the decisions were important rulings on juveniles serving life sentences and the power of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“I see we have a big audience” for the FERC decision, Justice Elena Kagan said with a smile before delivering the majority opinion in the case.

She was on the bench along with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and the court’s oldest member, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

There was no indication it was the weather that kept the other justices away. The session was the court’s last public meeting for several weeks, and some justices got an early jump on travel. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, for instance, was giving a speech at Harvard.

The court loves to remain open when all around it is closed. One year, the justices met when the rest of the city was hunkered down for a hurricane.

Snow gear for the dogs in your life. (Moriah Balingit/The Washington Post)

Some dogs – huskies and malamutes, for example – come with their own outerwear, thick coats of fur to keep them warm even when they’re chest-deep in snow. But for those with less natural insulation, there is dog outerwear in nearly every variety available to humans: fleece-lined, pink poofy down, waterproof, plaid and tartan, chunky knits and even one with a hood and little monkey ears.

Wylie Wagg, a local chain of pet stores with a half-dozen locations, sold some 500 pieces of dog apparel in the five days leading up to the storm, including canine outerwear, scarves and booties, according to owner Laura Clark.

Arash Setayeshi, an employee at the store’s Woodley Park location, said many owners were looking for dog booties, which protect a dog’s paws from corrosive road salt. And other owners were eyeing dog apparel that matched their own winter fashion.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t you?” Setayeshi said. “That’s why we have a wide variety of styles.”

The first bus leaving the Friendship Heights station in upper Northwest Washington, on Monday, started the route a few minutes past noon. The driver tried to figure out where to pick up passengers at the first stop. Bus bays at the stations were covered in snow.

“It can’t stop here,” a Metro supervisor on site told the handful of people waiting for the bus. “I need to find out where we can stop.”

The riders followed the Metro worker to the street nearby, Western Avenue NW. where they boarded.

The No. 33 is one of just 24 bus routes operating Monday afternoon. The bus trekked along Wisconsin Avenue, picking up riders at bus stops buried in snow. Some riders struggled to get around the piles of snow to board and exit. Some waited on the roadway.

“Please exit from the front door,” the driver reminded the 12 riders aboard.

Metro shut down its rail and bus service over the weekend and began Monday to reopen some stations and bus routes as the region recovered from the big snowfall.

Ben Cichy pulls a sled with his sons Adrian, 18-months-old, and Logan 3, as they head for Capitol Hill, Friday, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The District’s head of homeland security and emergency services said Monday that he doesn’t accept the official snow tally for the city that came out of Reagan National Airport, and believes the storm ranks second all-time to the so-called Knickerbocker storm of 1922.

Chris T. Geldart has over the last day repeatedly said that D.C. received “two feet” of snow. Asked Monday about the official number of 17.8 inches, Geldart said “that’s not true.”

Geldart said that city estimates show that snowfall across the city ranged from 20 inches to, in places, 23 inches.

“In general, we got 22 inches of snow in the District,” he said.

Officially, Reagan National Airport received 17.8 inches, which tied 2010’s Snowmageddon as the fourth greatest snowstorm total in Washington, D.C. However, The Post’s Capital Weather Gang learned the airport observers did not follow National Weather Service observing guidelines, so that number may require analysis and adjustment.

According to Capital Weather Gang, amounts over 20 inches were common in the immediate D.C. area

At the White House, where the National Park Service takes measurements, 22 inches were recorded.  Amounts inside the District generally ranged from around 19 to 24 inches, roughly from Southeast to Northwest.

Geldart said the District would seek disaster relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The amount the city receives could be highly dependent on which measurement is accepted. FEMA guidelines show a region must have record or near-record snowfall, in some cases, for the most assistance.

Geldart said his position is clear: “Since the Knickerbocker storm, this is the largest storm that we’ve had in one fall of snow.”

Scene at BWI airport on Monday. (Justin Jouvenal/The Washington Post)

Flights started to resume Monday at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, following the weekend’s massive snowstorm, but plenty of travelers were frustrated at the continued delays and cancellations.

Mary Frank Slaughter and David McElrath traveled from Frankfort, Ky., to Baltimore for her father’s 102nd birthday, but roughly 24 hours and four cancellations later, they were still hoping to catch a Southwest flight to Louisville.

Slaughter and McElrath both had to pause and think, before remembering their first flight was supposed to leave around 1 p.m. on Sunday.

It felt like they might be there until her father’s 103rd birthday.

Around 11 a.m. Monday, they were desperately trying to cram all of their belongings into a few carry-on bags in order to catch a 1 p.m. flight on stand-by.

Slaughter swigged from a $50 bottle of colloidal silver she knew was too large to make it through security. She uses it to treat Lyme disease.

If they couldn’t make the 1 p.m. flight, they would have to wait roughly eight hours for the next option.

Both held tickets for separate flights that took them to Tampa and Chicago, before arriving at their final destination in Louisville.

It wasn’t ideal, but at least they would depart from travel purgatory. Slaughter remained in good spirits.

Slaughter said she recognized it was hard for flights to resume after the snowstorm.

“I won’t register a complaint but I would sure like to get home,” she said.

Normal life resumes at Tiger Mart on 14th Street NW in the District. (Antonio Olivo/The Washington Post)

There was a sign of life returning back to normal in Washington’s Columbia Heights neighborhood Monday at the Tiger Mart gas station on 14th Street.

Just before noon, drivers fueled up for their first venture back on the still-slippery roads, their cars forming a line in front of gas pumps that reached the street.

Neighbors strolled in to buy a couple of liters of soda, coffee or protein bars. Even the small cluster of men who normally hang out at a nearby bus stop seemingly all day were back, chatting in a mixture of English and Spanish and, sometimes, asking passersby for spare change with an earnest tale of hardship.

Tahir Khan, the store owner, said the past few days were hard on him. No cars on the road meant nobody buying gas or anything else, he said.

“It affected business pretty bad,” Khan said, about the storm.

The store remained open during much of the storm, not out of optimism but because two workers had no way to get home once Metro trains stopped running, and there wasn’t a cab in sight.

“They slept in here,” Khan said, gesturing to the cramped aisles offering trail mix, toilet paper, cereal and several types of motor oil.

Outside, Khan’s customers were glad to again be fueling up.

Oscar Bermudez said it took two hours Sunday to dig out his minivan.

With a snow day, the employee of a nonprofit housing services group that contracts with the federal government, ventured out to give his mother a ride to the grocery store.

Being low on gas was the least of his worries, Bermudez realized, when he hit the icy roads.

“Just driving out there is bad,” he said.

With much of the District still snowbound, and the patience of D.C. residents wearing thin Monday, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser again urged people to stay home and shovel, and tried to show the lengths her administration is going to get the nation’s capital reopened for business — by Tuesday, she hoped.

Among those measures: The city agency that coordinates snowplow operations has begun recruiting school bus drivers and just about anyone else in the region with a commercial driver’s license to take a turn driving city snowplows. After four days of round-the-clock plowing operations, Bowser said the city needs more drivers to keep snow removal crews at full strength.

The District has also requested help from cities and states across the country, said Chris Geldart, Bowser’s director of homeland security and emergency services. A giant snow melter is on its way from Indiana, trucks are heading to D.C. in a convoy from Connecticut, and the city is seeking federal assistance, too.

“We are going to continue to reach out across the country to bring in crews and folks and equipment that we need to get us back to where we need to be,” Geldart said.

But Bowser and her aides said it was now clear a methodical cleanup would take the rest of the week and that she would not be able to make a determination about whether city government or public schools would reopen Tuesday until the evening, when officials could take stock of the progress made during daylight on Monday. And there were signs that even if city offices and classrooms open sooner, the effects of last week’s storm will be felt on every block for the remainder of this week.

For one, trash collection in D.C. will be suspended citywide until at least Thursday, Bowser, said, and possibly longer.

Bowser and her team also took issue with comparisons to New York City where a wider network of public transportation and city schools reopened Monday despite even more weekend snowfall.

“A totally unfair comparison,” Geldart said. “Schools may be open in [New York City] but is it a safe situation for those students to get there? That’s Mayor De Blasio’s call,” Geldart said. “Here in the District, we know our conditions, and what our roadways look like, and what it’s like for our residents and children out there, and we are making the best decision we can.”

Bowser also stressed the historic nature of the storm, and asked residents to be reasonable in how quickly they should expect to see their neighborhoods cleared out.

“I understand people’s anxiety in wanting to get back to normal, and that is our, quite frankly, that is our sense of urgency, too. We want the city to get back to normal as soon as possible,” Bowser said. “But every reasonable person understands this: You can’t have the number of pieces of equipment that we’ve had, which is significant, on every road in the same 24-hour period.”

Later, she said it again. “We are going to get to every street, but we can’t have the pieces of equipment on every street at the same time.”

Chris Shoter, D.C. director of public works, and Geldart, said that the city was using a different playbook than after most storms, and that partly explains why many residents have so far seen few, if any, plows.

Rather than sending trucks to crisscross the entire District, they said, the city is focusing intensely on one zone at a time, plowing, clearing snow with loaders, and then moving onto the next.

“Our priority is to clean the entire city in a methodical and thought-out manner,” Geldart said. “We want to concentrate our resources — clear out an area, get it as clear as we can there, and then move to the next area.”

“Spreading the resources all over and just barely scraping along throughout the whole city — not a good way to do it for this storm,” he added. “It may work with smaller storms, but not with this storm.”

Geldart said New York City is in the same situation, even if all that is seen on television is its clean throughfares.

“In D.C., our highways are clear, just like New York. When you get beyond those thoroughfares, [neighborhood streets] look the same.”

Laura Hagmann, 53, of Silver Spring, said she heard the distant beeping of a snowplow in her neighborhood Monday morning, but didn’t expect to see one on her residential street for another day.

“I am sympathetic,” she said. “There is a lot of snow out there, and it just takes time to remove it.”

Hagmann said she was still enjoying the significant snowfall, even though she missed an out-of-town trip for her birthday. Instead, she found herself at impromptu parties in her neighborhood and walking in snowshoes through Sligo Creek Park.

“The thing I love about snow is that everyone slows down, and you can’t really go anywhere,” she said. “People are out, and they are walking around. Everybody’s excited and having fun.”

But that might start to change, she said, if there was still no sign of a plow on her street Tuesday.

“My patience will be waning,” she said. “I can be sympathetic for a few days, but not for a week.”

An igloo spotted in 25th Street and New Hampshire Avenue in NW D.C. (Photo courtesy of Gia Colombraro)

An igloo was added Sunday afternoon to the downtown Washington housing stock, and it remained ready for occupancy early Monday morning.

Amateur housing inspectors found the unconventional shelter on a small island of grass and pavement near the intersection of Virginia and New Hampshire Avenues NW.

It appeared to be constructed out of one of the heaps of snow thrown up by road clearing.

However it was more than a formless blob, and had been gracefully rounded.

Ingress and egress were made possible through an opening tunneled into one end. Several people of college age were clustered around it Sunday afternoon, photographing one of their number, who was well inside.

Early Monday, however, it appeared vacant, although still intact.

It was not clear how long the dwelling would remain in place as temperatures inched upward, and snow removal continued.