Snomaggedon 2010: 500,000 tons of snow removed from Northern Virginia

Kim Chi Ha

Backyard and view of I-495 from the Blizzard of 2010: Photo by Kim Chi HaOver 24 inches of snow fell with an impending 10 to 20 more inches on the way.  Tragically "snow" days mean nothing in the world of journalism. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday means working from home––guess this is adulthood.

I've never seen this much snow in my life, and frankly I'm terrified of what's to come tomorrow.  Four days at home, and my family's about to drive me crazy––really must hurry up and get a real life job.  My neighborhood streets are unpaved, and I'm a 0.6 mile trek from the main road, which VDOT has paved, but there's so much snow that they've only uncovered one lane.  One of my neighbors, two streets over is a cop, so HIS street was paved.

The blizzard ended two days ago, what the heck are the snow trucks plowing now?!  I've been looking longingly at 495, from my kitchen window, for the past two days as cars just speed by.  Turns out, various trucks are needed to clean various locales.  Who knew?  VDOT has hundreds of 4x4 pickups on tow generally used for subdivisions, but they're unable to handle the the layers of ice and snow compacted on the streets––I'm never getting out!

An unplowed residential street in Northern Virginia: Photo by Kim Chi HaVDOT reported residents should see at least one snow plow pave through before the storm tomorrow night, but I'm going to say that's highly unlikely considering they've hardly paved the medium-sized roads.  On a trip to Safeway earlier today cars––trucks and sedans––were sliding and stuck all over the place.

Trucks and crews from Richmond and Hampton Roads are expected to arrive tomorrow to help clear out the 9,000 lane miles of subdivisions and sidestreets. Though with a winter storm watch underway, I don't think it'll be a good idea to leave central and southern Virginia without proper personnel.  

On another note, I'm moving to sunny southern California.