Over the last weekend, DC got plastered with snow. I think it was one of the largest blizzards in the last 90 years or so. The final tally was something like 20 inches and some areas out in Virginia and Maryland got up to 30 inches. Now I know that in some areas of the country, this amount of snow is way more common, but NOT in DC. The city literally shuts down if there’s more than a few inches of snow. I know that hundreds of thousands of people lost power and even two days later public transit isn’t running.
But, for the most part, people were in good spirits and took advantage of the situation to have some fun in the snow! I thought I’d share some photos I took over the weekend since it’s pretty rare to see DC in this state. Special shout-out to my friends Liz and Yasmin. They let me use a few of their photos also.
The Streets. I think this photo pretty much sums up the situation at hand.
DC is not made for this.
Even 24 hours later, the roads were a mess. If you could get to your car, you couldn’t really drive anywhere. Luckily DC is very walkable.
Snow!
Most of the streets in DC are lined with trees and it was really pretty how the snow would collect on them.
Veins of snow.
Surprisingly, most the streetlights kept working throughout the blizzard. Not that anyone was using them.
Green light!
The Monuments. I was able to snap this photo at the top of a major street in DC. You can see the Washington Monument in the distance.
In the distance.
Downtown, the mall was blanketed with a thick layer of snow.
National mall.
People got creative with their snow structures…
Double vision.
Trip to the Park. Bets and I live a few blocks away from a pretty large park so we figured it’d be fun to walk over and see what was going on there. These are a few photos I snapped on the way.
If you lived in a basement apartment, you had some serious shoveling to do if you ever wanted to get out of your house again…
Lots of shoveling...
And people that had cars parked on the streets might be better off just waiting until spring. This was one of the worst ones I saw…
Seeya in April.
In general though, most people were in good spirits. This was the best snowman we saw on our walk. The nose is a parsnip!
Making the best of it!
In the park, there were some statues that looked awesome draped in snow.
In the park.
My favorite thing in the park though is people had turned stairs into slopes for sledding. The only thing is that people rarely get the opportunity to sled in DC so very few people have actual sleds. So people got creative: boxes and lids work just fine!
Inventive!
This was probably my favorite impromptu sled. These kids had found a laminated protest sign and were using that. Because it was laminated, they could fly on it!
Only in DC...
And possibly my favorite photo of the day is Betsy catching some sick air off a jump.
Hangtime!
The great thing I noticed about the weekend was how a huge snowstorm really bought out the child in people. It was fun to see grown professionals sledding on boxes and having snowball fights.
Of course, now there’s work to be done. For example, I’m one of those unfortunate souls that needs to spend a few hours shoveling my car out…
I love how everyone looks so happy!
Awesome pictures! I’m with you – Betsy sledding is THE best picture! Too cool.
We got socked with 30 inches or so – and as I type it is beginning to snow again. This storm may drop another 12 inches on us……
Very cool! Isn’t there another storm headed your way with like 10-20 more inches of snow?
The biggest storm I have ever been in was 37 inches of snow when we lived in Denver. Started Monday night and didn’t stop till Thursday afternoon.
Yep… that’s the story… more snow starting today! My cat is worried that the roof is going to cave in…
I don’t miss DC at all. They could never handle an inch of snow, so I can imagine how shut down that place is. Where do you live? We used to live in Olde Town.
Like the U Street area… it’s a total mess.
Wow! Lots of snow! Stay warm!
Awesome pictures! this is a great post
its cold and snow’s actually on the ground of this no-snow town.
and instead of cars, street’s trafficing in sleds.
men become boys again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyzXiE-qbiM
Looks like ya had some super fun! and very cold too :)
Awesome pics!
Yikes! I might have to reconsider my move to DC this year. Although, snow days aren’t a bad thing.
thank you for sharing! these look so fun.
Come on, really, this is nothing. I am living very near the through Armagedon place (meaning the place where kibbutz Megido is nowdays) among millions upon millions of “loving souls” who wish to eliminate my homeland from the face of the earth.
So, Snowmagedon? give me a break.
Well, you have a real funny president.
Yes we got crushed! Your pics were so awesome though. Make it seem like it was a happy time =)
Best of luck with tonight’s snow! More time for baking, haha
These are awesome photos. Make me miss snow.
Awesome pictures, I loved them all. Plus I’m grateful I live further south;)
This used to be the amount of snow that my hometown got. Where I’m living now, there was 1.5 days where any snow fell, makes me sad. Hell there isn’t even enough snow on one of the Olympic venues!
hi, I live in DC too, foggy bottom. Very nice pics. Snowest DC ever, wish you have a nice day
:)