Round 2: Snoverkill

It's official: This is the snowiest winter in DC's recorded history. Wow. 54.9 inches have fallen on DC so far this winter (about 140 cm). This in a city that I was told gets a couple of inches of snow each year.

Apparently, there hasn't been this much snow in Washington since, well, George Washington lived here (see last paragraph of this CBC article).

Last Friday/Saturday, we got about 2 feet. Yesterday Round 2 started and it's still coming down. This latest storm was quickly christened "Snoverkill" by the Washington Post. People are clearly enjoying coming up with names for each new storm.

Finally, though, I'm seeing a benefit to all this snow - Snow Days! I'm no stranger to Snow Days (unlike some in our MBA class), but I don't recall ever having 3 in a row before. Classes have been cancelled this entire week. I know eastern NL also had a blizzard last weekend - but I'm sure everyone was back to work and school on Monday. DC just can't cope with all this snow. I ventured out a few times between storms and it is crazy. Streets are still horrible. Trees have been knocked down (many people lost their power over the weekend - I'm hoping ours stays on during this latest round).

I feel like there may be a market here for teaching people how to cope with snow! I'll start with these tips:

1. It might be an idea to dig your car out while you still can.

Walking around yesterday, I was amazed at the number of cars still buried under the weekend snow. Maybe these people are not planning on using their cars until spring. Or maybe they don't own a shovel. Here we have Exhibit A:

This won't be fun after the snow/sleet expected during Snoverkill

2. You cannot drive over 2 feet of snow. I repeat: You cannot drive over 2 feet of snow.

I thought I was going to throttle someone on Sunday night. For about an hour, all I could hear was some dude (assumed it was a dude), killing his car trying to drive his way out of the snow. All you could hear was the squeal of tires going nowhere. Stop being lazy and get out and shovel! Based on a comment a classmate made on Facebook, I'm guessing he wasn't the only one attempting this. It's probably impossible with snow tires; definitely impossible without them.

Which brings me to my third suggestion....

3. Consider investing in snow tires.

Sure, they're expensive. Sure, DC might not see another winter like this for 20 years. But why take that chance? Weather is becoming bizarre the world over. I really don't know how people are driving at all in this with their "all seasonals". All this snow would be nasty for home. It's downright treacherous in a place where people aren't used to it and the plows can't keep up with it. Thankfully it seems most people have heeded the advice to stay home today.