For the second time in a week, snow hit the D.C. region Friday, forcing schools and the federal government to close and leaving slick roadways in the morning commute. The Washington Monument, Ford’s Theatre, Smithsonian museums, Arlington National Cemetery and the National Zoo closed Friday because of the weather. Several courthouses in the region opened late.
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Local transportation officials said there were no reports of big crashes on any major highways, but drivers were advised to allow extra time and slow down, as roads had possible icy spots. Snow crews treated highways, roads, bridges and ramps before the snow fell in the early-morning hours.
In D.C., Christopher Geldart, the deputy mayor for public safety, said Friday morning that the city’s snow crew was out early Thursday evening clearing the main roads first and then working on the side streets in residential areas. He said crews have been working 12-hour shifts since Sunday night from the previous snowstorm.
In Virginia, the governor declared a state of emergency Wednesday in advance of Friday’s storm. Officials advised people to stay off the roads to avoid a repeat of Monday’s traffic nightmare, in which Interstate 95 was shut down overnight because of multiple crashes in the snowstorm, leaving drivers stuck in their vehicles without food and water.
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The Virginia Department of Transportation urged drivers to stay home Friday morning if possible because “travel is hazardous.”
Metrobus ran reduced services because of the weather. The Metro rail system ran normally, but commuter trains — VRE and MARC — ran limited service.
Power outages remained for some in the region from Monday’s storm. Pepco and Dominion Energy had roughly 400 and 8,500 customers, respectively, without power.
In more rural areas of Virginia, where there was up to 12 inches of snow and ice in some locations, large numbers of homes and businesses were still without power.
In Spotsylvania County, officials warned on their Facebook page there were 13 broken poles in one subdivision called Greenbranch Farms and advised residents to find some place else to stay because the repairs to restore power would take several days.
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Rappahannock Electric Cooperative said on social media that it had roughly 98,000 customers without power after Monday’s snowstorm and had restored service to about 70 percent of those customers in nearly 80 hours with help from additional crews.
By midmorning Friday, Rappahannock Electric had about 25,000 customers still without power mainly in parts of Caroline, Hanover, Louisa and Spotsylvania counties in Virginia.
One Rappahannock customer — Tamara Sandy, who lives in Spotsylvania County with her mother — said they lost power at their home after Monday’s snowstorm and it wasn’t restored until Wednesday night.
“This has been very frustrating,” Sandy said Friday morning. But she said there were plenty of trees, along with poles and power lines, down in her area.
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“As much as you’d like to blame the electric company, there’s only so much they can do,” she said.
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Officials at electric companies said crews were working to restore power and they hoped to have it back on Friday, officials said. Rappahannock’s president and chief executive John Hewa said in a video on Facebook
After snowstorm, ongoing power outages plague thousands in Virginia: ‘30 degrees in my living room’
The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang said the snow moved out of the region fast, but temperatures were forecast to reach only the upper 20s to low 30s. The storm is part of a larger system that moved up the East Coast in the early morning, dumping mainly between two and four inches in the D.C. region to as much as eight inches in parts of New England.