Winter Weather Advisory Lifted
Snow, sleet and freezing rain made driving treacherous
Saturday, Jan 21, 2012 | Updated 9:01 PM EDT
NBC Washington
The Washington D.C. area's first big snow event of 2012 made navigating through Saturday activities a little more difficult for many. Derrick Ward toured the District and Maryland with a look at how neighbors fared.
The National Weather Service has lifted a winter weather advisory for the D.C. area after a mixture of snow, sleet, and freezing rain made driving treacherous early Saturday morning.
Snow started to fall in D.C. at around 11 p.m. Friday, about an hour after snow reached northern Virginia. By midnight, a wintry mix of snow and sleet was falling across the region before it changed over to freezing rain in the early hours of Saturday morning. Some roads were already slick just before midnight Saturday, and numerous fender benders and spinouts were reported across the area. DDOT and DC Department of Public Works crews began treating main roads and streets shortly after 11 p.m. and treatment continued into Saturday morning.
The latest forecast from Storm4 meteorologist Chuck Bell calls for light rain to continue falling through the daylight hours before ending at around sunset. By 5 p.m., precipitation should be out of most of the area. However, motorists should take caution if traveling Saturday night and into Sunday morning, as low temperatures could re-freeze roads and sidewalks. Sunday will be cloudy and cold, but warmer, with highs reaching into the low-40s.
It's estimated that 1-2 inches of snow, as well as a quarter inch of ice accumulated in Frederick County, Md., Westminster, and areas around I-70 and I-270. Areas closer to the city and through the I-95 corridor received about 1 inch of snow and a tenth of an inch of ice. Only a light coating of snow and freezing rain feel in southern Maryland and down through the northern neck.
Despite warnings from power companies to prepare for outages, the vast majority of customers saw their lights stay on as the weather system moved through. As of 1:15 p.m. Saturday, PEPCO reported only eight outages between D.C., Montgomery County, and Prince George's County. Dominion Power reported that 42 customers were without power in Northern Virginia as of Saturday afternoon, while Baltimore Gas and Electric reported just 40 outages out of 1.2 million Maryland customers.
In Prince George's County, school officials announced that PGCPS Saturday morning athletic and extracurricular activities have been canceled due to the weather.
Montgomery County Public Schools announced that all scheduled activities on Saturday were canceled, including Saturday school and interscholastic athletics.
D.C. public schools announced Saturday morning that athletic events scheduled for Coolidge Senior High School, Francis-Stevens Education Campus, Hart Middle School, Johnson Middle School, and Sousa Middle School had been canceled. The District also delayed the opening of all DMV service centers until 10 a.m. Saturday.
Get the complete list of closings and delays by clicking here
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