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A winter weather advisory remains in effect until 4 a.m. Thursday.
Transportation
Fender benders abounded and a few hardy souls abandoned their cars and set out on foot once gridlock set in around the area. One man stomped through slush on the side of a Leesburg Pike bridge over the Capital Beltway. Cars around him were at a standstill while he made slow but steady progress.
"It is gridlock everyhere," says Joan Morris, spokeswoman for VDOT. "It is going to be one of those rush hours we never forget."
Morris says VDOT is trying to get trucks to the worst locations, but plows are snarled in the same traffic as the rest of area.
"Until this traffic dissipates we are going to have an extremely hard time getting salt down on the roads," she says.
Virginia State Police responded to 1,681 calls for service during an eight-hour period ending at 5 p.m. That includes 55 personal injury crashes and 519 crashes involving property damage.
The Virginia Department of Transportation also called road conditions "treacherous" in Northern Virginia and urged motorists to avoid travel. The agency says trouble spots on interstates were pre-treated Tuesday, and about 2,000 trucks were deployed to treat and plow major roads and subdivisions in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties.
Still, usually traffic-choked Tysons Corner succumbed to total gridlock as the snow hit. Even when cars had a few inches to move forward, they skidded out on the gentlest slopes.
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley told reporters that rain earlier in the day prevented the State Highway Administration from effectively applying road salt.
He says it's going to be a treacherous evening rush hour and those who don't need to travel shouldn't venture out. O'Malley says the main challenge will be for drivers, especially along the Interstate 95 corridor.
Even President Barack Obama faced a delayed commute back to the White House after returning from a trip to Wisconsin.
The wintry weather grounded Marine One -- the helicopter that typically transports Obama to and from the military base where Air Force One lands -- so Obama instead was met at the plane by his motorcade, which spent an hour weaving through rush hour traffic already slowed by the storm. The trip normally takes the motorcade about 20 minutes.
Metro suspended all bus service beginning at 9:30 p.m. in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. due to poor roadway conditions.
Most other local bus services are planning to start to pull their buses off the streets at 9 p.m., including Alexandria's DASH, Arlington's ART, Fairfax Connector, D.C. Circulator, PRTC, Fairfax City CUE and Montgomery County's RideOn.
At the Falls Church Metro station, there were reports of hundreds of riders waiting for commuter buses and Metrobuses.
Runways at Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport also have been closed due to the snowfall. Plows are working to clear the runways, and terminals remain open.
Forecast
ABC7 Chief Meteorologist Doug Hill says this "very efficient snow-maker" produced heavy that fell as a rate of 2 inches per hour.
ABC7 Meteorologist Devon Lucie says the snow is tapering off, with areas east of D.C. seeing the last remaining effects of the storm.
Accumulations likely will be about 5 inches, with areas from Loudoun County to upper Montgomery County receiving closer to 8 inches.
Closings & Delays
Some schools have already announced closures for Thursday. D.C. Public Schools announced a two-hour delay. Arlington, Fairfax, Montgomery, Prince William, Loudoun and Stafford County Schools will be closed.
Check WTOP's Closings and Delays list for the latest information.
Power Outages
The storm also is causing power outages across the region. As of 10:45 p.m., the outage totals are:
* Pepco - 199,000 outages, 121,000 in Montgomery County
* BGE - 128,000 outages
* Dominion - 147,000 outages in Northern Virginia
* Rappahannock - 16,000 outages in Culpeper and Fauquier Counties
* Allegheny - 7,956 outages in Frederick County, Md.
* SMECO - 3,821 outages
"We are all hands," says Pepco spokesperson Tom Graham, saying Pepco will have customer service representatives on hand to answer telephones throughout the night.
"This could stretch certainly beyond tomorrow," Graham says. "We are working as quickly and safely as we can."
Pepco spokesman Clay Anderson tells WTOP that customers who report a problem during the storm won't call into a recording.
"Our customer service department will be staffed with live people throughout the event tonight and into tomorrow morning," Anderson says. "So for those who need to call, we are hoping that the wait times will be greatly diminished."
Pepco customers with problems can call (877) PEPCO-62. Anderson also says the utility's increased tree-trimming efforts should cut down on the number of outages.
A winter weather advisory is in effect until 7 a.m. Thursday You can track the storm in WTOP's Weather Center.
Area hospitals are in need of sport utility vehicles. href="http://www.dominionhospital.com/">Dominion Hospital in Falls Church needs SUVs for Thursday morning and can be reached at (703) 536-2000.
(Copyright 2011 by WTOP and The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Transportation
Fender benders abounded and a few hardy souls abandoned their cars and set out on foot once gridlock set in around the area. One man stomped through slush on the side of a Leesburg Pike bridge over the Capital Beltway. Cars around him were at a standstill while he made slow but steady progress.
"It is gridlock everyhere," says Joan Morris, spokeswoman for VDOT. "It is going to be one of those rush hours we never forget."
Morris says VDOT is trying to get trucks to the worst locations, but plows are snarled in the same traffic as the rest of area.
"Until this traffic dissipates we are going to have an extremely hard time getting salt down on the roads," she says.
Virginia State Police responded to 1,681 calls for service during an eight-hour period ending at 5 p.m. That includes 55 personal injury crashes and 519 crashes involving property damage.
The Virginia Department of Transportation also called road conditions "treacherous" in Northern Virginia and urged motorists to avoid travel. The agency says trouble spots on interstates were pre-treated Tuesday, and about 2,000 trucks were deployed to treat and plow major roads and subdivisions in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties.
Still, usually traffic-choked Tysons Corner succumbed to total gridlock as the snow hit. Even when cars had a few inches to move forward, they skidded out on the gentlest slopes.
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley told reporters that rain earlier in the day prevented the State Highway Administration from effectively applying road salt.
He says it's going to be a treacherous evening rush hour and those who don't need to travel shouldn't venture out. O'Malley says the main challenge will be for drivers, especially along the Interstate 95 corridor.
Even President Barack Obama faced a delayed commute back to the White House after returning from a trip to Wisconsin.
The wintry weather grounded Marine One -- the helicopter that typically transports Obama to and from the military base where Air Force One lands -- so Obama instead was met at the plane by his motorcade, which spent an hour weaving through rush hour traffic already slowed by the storm. The trip normally takes the motorcade about 20 minutes.
Metro suspended all bus service beginning at 9:30 p.m. in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. due to poor roadway conditions.
Most other local bus services are planning to start to pull their buses off the streets at 9 p.m., including Alexandria's DASH, Arlington's ART, Fairfax Connector, D.C. Circulator, PRTC, Fairfax City CUE and Montgomery County's RideOn.
At the Falls Church Metro station, there were reports of hundreds of riders waiting for commuter buses and Metrobuses.
Runways at Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport also have been closed due to the snowfall. Plows are working to clear the runways, and terminals remain open.
Forecast
ABC7 Chief Meteorologist Doug Hill says this "very efficient snow-maker" produced heavy that fell as a rate of 2 inches per hour.
ABC7 Meteorologist Devon Lucie says the snow is tapering off, with areas east of D.C. seeing the last remaining effects of the storm.
Accumulations likely will be about 5 inches, with areas from Loudoun County to upper Montgomery County receiving closer to 8 inches.
Closings & Delays
Some schools have already announced closures for Thursday. D.C. Public Schools announced a two-hour delay. Arlington, Fairfax, Montgomery, Prince William, Loudoun and Stafford County Schools will be closed.
Check WTOP's Closings and Delays list for the latest information.
Power Outages
The storm also is causing power outages across the region. As of 10:45 p.m., the outage totals are:
* Pepco - 199,000 outages, 121,000 in Montgomery County
* BGE - 128,000 outages
* Dominion - 147,000 outages in Northern Virginia
* Rappahannock - 16,000 outages in Culpeper and Fauquier Counties
* Allegheny - 7,956 outages in Frederick County, Md.
* SMECO - 3,821 outages
"We are all hands," says Pepco spokesperson Tom Graham, saying Pepco will have customer service representatives on hand to answer telephones throughout the night.
"This could stretch certainly beyond tomorrow," Graham says. "We are working as quickly and safely as we can."
Pepco spokesman Clay Anderson tells WTOP that customers who report a problem during the storm won't call into a recording.
"Our customer service department will be staffed with live people throughout the event tonight and into tomorrow morning," Anderson says. "So for those who need to call, we are hoping that the wait times will be greatly diminished."
Pepco customers with problems can call (877) PEPCO-62. Anderson also says the utility's increased tree-trimming efforts should cut down on the number of outages.
A winter weather advisory is in effect until 7 a.m. Thursday You can track the storm in WTOP's Weather Center.
Area hospitals are in need of sport utility vehicles. href="http://www.dominionhospital.com/">Dominion Hospital in Falls Church needs SUVs for Thursday morning and can be reached at (703) 536-2000.
(Copyright 2011 by WTOP and The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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