WASHINGTON – Heavy, wet snow slowed Monday morning’s commute, shut down schools not on spring break and left thousands without electricity.
ABC 7 meteorologist Lauryn Ricketts says the morning snow has become rain for most of the D.C. area, and that rain will continue through the evening. The roads will be mostly wet for the afternoon commute home.
“Temperatures tonight will drop to around the freezing mark, so there will definitely be some slicks spots with those wet roadways,” says Ricketts.
Icy patches are possible on area roads as they freeze overnight.
Closings
A number of school systems that are not on spring break closed Monday, while others delayed their openings.Prince George’s County schools have canceled Monday evening activities. No school system has announced a decision for Tuesday yet. See all the closings on WTOP’s Closings and Delays page.
The federal government opened on a normal schedule.
Roads
With the snow came a number of morning accidents.
“The roadways are slick, some snow-covered. People are flying off the roadways,” says WTOP traffic reporter Reada Kessler, who urges drivers to slow down and to completely clear off their cars.
Kessler says drivers need to leave enough room between them and the snow trucks that are treating the roadways.
One crash involving two vehicles in Prince George’s County at Lanham Severn and Greenbelt roads in Glenn Dale sent four men to the hospital. The crash trapped one man in each vehicle.
According to Prince George’s Fire and EMS spokesman Mark Brady, two of the men are in extremely critical condition and two are in serious condition with non-life-threatening injuries.
By 2 p.m., WTOP traffic reporter Bob Marbourg was reporting mostly wet roadways on all major roads.
Snow totals
For the first time in two years, snow measured more than an inch at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The last time this much snow fell at the airport was Jan. 26, 2011.
By 8 a.m., 1.3 inches of snow was reported at Reagan National, while 3.2 inches was reported at Dulles International Airport. BWI Marshall Airport reported 2.1 inches.
By 7:30 a.m., parts of Frederick County, Va., saw more than 7 inches of snow, while parts of Frederick County, Md., had 5.5 inches, according to unofficial National Weather Service snow totals.
Weather warnings and advisories
All winter weather advisories and warnings for the D.C. area have been canceled.
Forecast
Monday: Snow tapers through the afternoon. An inch inside the Beltway, 2 to 4 inches to the west. Upper 30s. Winds of 5 mph to 10 mph. Overnight lows will be around the freezing point.
Tuesday: Mix of sun and clouds. Afternoon shower or flurries. 45 to 50. Northwest winds of 10 mph to 15 mph.
Wednesday: Partly cloudy, breezy, upper 40s.
Thursday: Partly cloudy, low 50s.
Outages
Electric companies have crews out working to restore power, and say almost all of the outages are weather related.
Outages as of 2 p.m.:
- Dominion – 409
- Pepco – 27
- Rappahanock Electric Cooperative – 4,972
- BGE – 16 in Anne Arundel County
- Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative – 0
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