Feb. 9 Update: Arlington Closed Tomorrow

Bracing for another 10 to 20 inches, here's what we know. Closed Wednesday:

• Arlington Public Schools
• Arlington Govt and courts
• Arlington Pools
  
• Federal Government

According to our records this is the longest the Fed Govt has ever been closed on account of snow (no. no, we dont actually keep records).

Arlington Public Schools wants kids to keep learning while school is closed thru their Snow Learning Website (good luck with that - I think I just saw a mob of Arlington Middle School orcs marauding through the continent of Northrend)

Transportation:

• WMATA is running trains underground only with no bus service (we did see the 3 bus today - but just assume it was a bus that left Rosslyn last week and is just running that late)
• Roads today were treacherous. The storm has apparently led to a severe outbreak of stupid. Saw someone navigating through the warzone of local streets while talking on a cell phone. Several cars had 2.5 feet of snow on the roof (that snow is going to fly off and injure the person behind you). Cars traveling with lights off. Parking lots of grocery stores were kill-or-be-killed (with fun games of IKILLYOU over the one remaining available shopping cart). One lane secondary roads filled with idiot SUVs were common. Arl Now is reporting that Courthouse road is currently an ice rink. Driving downtown today was pretty rough today with many lanes missing and many roads one lane only.
  
• Amtrak trains were running largely on time today - of course, many of the runs were canceled altogether making the traffic load on the rails pretty light. Yamtrak is describing tomorrow service as "limited"

Grocery stores continue to be retro-soviet union experiences: empty shelves and long lines.

Lots of concern over buildings with flat roofs, like, oh..... schools!

Arlington has opened an emergency shelter at Washington Lee HS.

Updated 2/9, 7:37 p.m.: Emergency shelter now open at Washington Lee High School, 1301 N. Stafford St.; enter through door #1. Ample parking available (no transportation provided), and it is within walking distance of Ballston Metro. No pets allowed, with exception of service animals.

"Arlington Alerts" continues to provide alerts for places other than Arlington -- cluttering up there feed. (Arlington Alert - here's a clue - if I needed to know about Fairfax, I would subscribe to Fairfax alert). This just in:

Arlington Alert: Alert Montgmery reports Montgomery County government will be closed on Wednesday, February 10 exc...

Montgomery County??? Isnt that across a really big river??? Come'on Arlington Alerts - stop filling your service with noise.

Dominion Power is currently listing 227 houses without power in the Northern Virginia Area.

As we yet again hunker down with our "loved ones" let me leave you with this thought:

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.
Carl Reiner

I am moving somewhere where shoveling snow is illegal.

Update from Lee Heights & Put Some Food and Water Out for the Critters

From Lee Heights - well okay - from our one block. 25th Street around the corner still has not been plowed. There is a well trodden trench meandering down the center of it where teenagers and bored parents have wandered. Vernon St has one lane cut through the middle of it. Stir crazy dads have built 5 foot high snow monuments to their former backs at the ends of their driveways, thereby ensuring that the one lane road.... remains one lane. With the beautiful sun pouring solar down on the black asphalt, that one lane is quite passable. Of course, when 10,000 pounds of SUV comes rolling down the road only to meet another 10,000 pounds of SUV, it becomes a Mexican standoff. It's reported that there are sidewalks somewhere, but they have not been heard from for days and their whereabouts cannot be confirmed.

Grocery stores continue to get described on twitter as retro-soviet union experiences: empty shelves and long lines. And as I eat through my ten year old Y2K supplies, I look out the window and ponder our fellow critters. I remember hearing that during these big storms, while giving birds food is nice - what they really could use is water. Sources of water get covered up or frozen. I know my bird bath is under three feet of snow at the base of the dead tree I have been meaning to cut down.

Having put out some water this morning in a kludged bird bath (water tight top to a storage tupperware), I went for the morning dog walk and did two more hours of Mr Universe Training (shoveling of snow). I came back and thought, this will be great, I will get a picture of a bird at the bird bath for the blog. And waited. And waited. And waited.

Only to figure out that in the few short hours of the morning, the neighborhood birds had drained my kludged birdbath!! So I refilled it and the neighborhood Mocking Bird came by.

Remember the critters are struggling through these storms too.

Finally, evidence of one of the visitors to the bird bath; wing marks in the snow:

OPM Announces that on Tuesday the Fed Gov Will Be CLOSED

OPM has announced that on Tuesday the Federal Government will closed Tuesday

The OPM Website is currently experiencing a civil servant DOS while federal workers anxiously query the site to find out what's up. This begs of course a few questions.

1. Why doest OPM use twitter.
   
2. Why doesnt OPM have an RSS feed.
3. Why doesnt OPM */ its webpage.
4. Why doesnt OPM have an email alert system.
5. Why the federal agencies have not initiated their COOP plans. I mean, this is sort of the perfect example of what all those COOP exercises were meant to practice.
   

Apparently OPM's decision making is coordinated with WMATA's. If you cant get the work force it, its kinda counter productive to open. Outside of public transportation, public road transportation would be heck like if it operates at load. Current my street is a solid one lane with lots of Mexican standoffs between SUVs, and other local streets have yet to be plowed (VDOT hopes to have all roads plowed by tomorrow).

Oh, and did anyone forget to mention that we are under a winter storm warning for another (sputter) 10 to 20 inches.

Arlington Public Schools Closed Tuesday

And with Snowpocalypse3 coming, can we make it a full week without school? From APS Central....

Dear Parents:

Today, we continued efforts to “dig out” at all of our schools, program centers and administrative offices across the County. As you can imagine, this is proving to be a monumental task, and we are fortunate to have the dedicated efforts of our APS and County staffers. Much has been accomplished, but unfortunately a great deal still remains before we can safely resume school operations.

This afternoon I had an opportunity to tour the community with County officials to assess the progress that has been made. Despite almost three days of round-the-clock work by our crews, many residential streets remain impassable and very hazardous to navigate. This means that bus routes in many neighborhoods remain unopened, and the pathway on a significant number of our bus routes throughout the County are still blocked. In addition, many walkways are snow-covered and bus stops have high snow banks in front of them, making it unsafe for children to walk safely or access their bus.

For these reasons, we have determined that it we will not be able to open schools for classes tomorrow. All APS offices, however, will open tomorrow morning and the pools will open at 11:30.

Would You Believe... Snowpocalyse Part III !!!!

I Quit! I am leaving! I am going to Florida with all the retired People! I have had it!

NWS Statement as of 3:04 PM EST on February 08, 2010

... Winter Storm Warning in effect from noon Tuesday to 7 PM EST
Wednesday...

The National Weather Service in Sterling Virginia has issued a
Winter Storm Warning for... which is in effect from noon Tuesday
to 7 PM EST Wednesday. The Winter Storm Watch is no longer in
effect.

* Precipitation type... snow.

* Accumulations... 10 to 20 inches.

* Timing... mid-afternoon Tuesday through Wednesday.

* Temperatures... temperatures near freezing at the onset Tuesday
afternoon. Temperatures will drop into the upper 20s Tuesday
night and Wednesday.

* Winds... light southeasterly winds Tuesday becoming
northwesterly 15 to 25 mph Wednesday.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A Winter Storm Warning means significant amounts of snow are
expected or occurring. The combination of snow and strong winds
will make travel very hazardous.

Federal Government is Closed Monday

Federal Government is reportedly closed Monday. That news has resulted in a DOS attack against the OPM website, bringing the server down.

Best Tweet: "anthonyup Here at a DC sports bar where there are a lot of Saints fans, a few Colts fans, but an overwhelming majority of OPM fans"

The Morning After Snowpocalypse

The morning after Snowpocalypse in Lee Heights.

Walking in Zackary Taylor park. There is a two foot wide cutting along the trails in the park. Only a few branches down. Could hear the Bamboo pop and crack under the weight of the snow.

The bridge at the end of the train near military road.

The Lost Dogs near a stone crossing of the creek.

I always tell my friends that Arlington Roads were laid out during the cold war to keep the Soviets from successfully navigating through Arlington. Another classic example of a two road intersection with three road names.

Weird moguls in the Zackary Taylor stream

Vernon Street in Lee Heights. We've been plowed. Vermont street close by has been plowed and salted (puppies cant walk on the salt). Vermont Street one block away is unplowed. 25th Street dead end is unplowed. Not a sidewalk to be seen.

Now for the great dig! Arlington Public Schools have already announced they are closed for Monday.

Remember to get your "I Survived the Snowpocalypse" T Shirts!

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