As the National Weather Service continued to increase their snow predictions from 1 to 4 inches, then 3 to 5, then 4 to 8 and finally 5 to 10 inches west of the city, the climate of panic started to grow. To help assuage people's fears and to get everyone out of harm's way as fast as possible, the Federal Government issued a 2-hour early release, allowing Federal employees and support contractors to depart 2 hours before the end of their regularly scheduled day. This means that by 2PM the roads were already flooded with cars in advance of the snow that began around 3PM.
Sadly, I had a briefing with our Director at 3PM that was not rescheduled. While this might seem cold, the fact remains that since the mere threat of snow often sends this DC area into chaos mode, it's hard to know when you should heed the warnings and get out and when you'll find yourself driving on undisturbed road having left early for no reason. So we briefed. At 5PM, when the briefing was done and I walked out of the building to leave, I was horrified to find that traffic on both 14th Street and Constitution was backed up so far that I couldn't see the end of it and, moreover, no one was moving.
Knowing I'd probably sit in three hours of traffic if I left then (in retrospect it probably would have been more like six or seven hours), I went back into the building, met up with a couple of co-worker friends and headed over to Elephant and Castle for dinner while we waited out the mess. Thinking 730 would be a better time to get on the road, I pulled out of the garage then and onto 14th. 25 minutes later, I'd driven one block. Ben left work at 730 as well and was caught in similar gridlock on I-66 coming from Arlington (in the end it took him four hours to make the seven mile drive home).
Already getting frustrated, I flipped a u-turn and headed back to 15th Street thinking I'd slowly wind my way up Connecticut Ave to I-495 which, while I was sure was very, very crowded is a larger highway and usually better maintained in bad weather. Having seen plows moving around my office building, I assumed that Connecticut Ave, being a major artery in northwest DC and a snow emergency route, would have seen some plow action. I was so wrong. The next two and a half hours were a nightmare of sliding cars, stuck buses, downed power lines, cracking tree limbs and fear, in some cases, total abject terror. I have never, even been so scared.
At some point about 20 blocks into my 50 block drive, Ben called to tell me this. "Do not get on 495. Go to Melissa's and stay there." He wasn't being harsh, but it wasn't a request. He was worried that if I got on I-495 my little front-wheel drive car wouldn't have enough in her to make it home and that I would probably get hit or hurt in the process of trying. The seriousness of his worry for my safety was evident in his voice.
I listened. I had already had the thought that if it took me a long time to get up to where Melissa lives in Friendship Heights (en route to 495) I would stop in to wait it out in the warm with my dear friend and had called ahead. She was happy for company but she had no idea what kind of company would be materializing on her doorstep. By the time I got to her I'd been in the car nearly three hours. I'd missed being hit by a falling power line by 50 feet and I'd been horrified all the way up Connecticut Ave that I would get taken out by the falling tree branches that swayed and creaked ominously before crashing to the street below - over and over and over again.
By the time I hit Tenleytown (one metro stop south of Melissa) I was in near total panic. I was white knuckled on the steering wheel with so much adrenaline coursing through my veins that the muscles in my jaw and legs were twitching and my hands were shaking violently. Thanks to a combination of my mother's calming voice (let's be honest, even as adults when it all goes to hell, we still want our moms) and Melissa and Roberto's (her wonderful new man) willingness to pack into his 4x4 SUV and come rescue me if I got stuck, I managed to keep my head and made it to her. Not without a few moments of actual, out-loud pep talks in the car. "You can do this. You're from Michigan. Just keep moving, try not to have to stop, give yourself enough space that you can maneuver if you get stuck, if you slide don't brake, turn into the spin and don't panic..." Lather, rinse, repeat from Tenleytown nearly all the way to Friendship Heights.
I made it at nearly 1030, shaken to the core and so pumped full of adrenaline that the let down was near cataclysmic. I got out of the car to Melissa's sweet hug and exclamation of "I'm so glad you made it safely" only to dissolve into child-like sobbing. I bawled for two minutes releasing a significant amount of the adrenaline fueled panic I'd been holding on to. Gulping air to calm myself I got it together in time to park, in Roberto's spot in their building because he wouldn't hear of me parking on the street, and get up to Melissa's fully-powered apartment (this is huge since blocks on every side of her were without electricity).
An hour later I'd been made tea, made to laugh repeatedly, been plied with champagne and, most importantly, had heard from Ben that he was home safely and that we had power. And when I finally slept, I crashed, my body so exhausted from the driving ordeal that when I finally hit the bed I was asleep instantly. I woke up in time to check the government's operating status for this morning (2 hour delay) and call my boss to let her know I'd be taking unscheduled leave since I hadn't even been home yet. The one item that had been nagging at me was that I didn't know the status of all of my team after their commutes. But my big-hearted boss didn't disappoint, she'd been glued to her blackberry much of the prior night (after her own 4 hour commute) and since 5AM this morning checking in on everyone. All accounted for and safe. And when I finally got home, at 1130 this morning (to a driveway already shoveled out by Ben and an open garage door so I wouldn't have to navigate the icy stairs) I found dozens of emails exchanged among my team statusing each other on their safety, power situation and commutes from the night before.
All the panic, exhaustion and chaos aside, this experience highlighted a few things for me quite powerfully. First, while I joke and deride DC residents for their inability to drive in the snow (and they can't, oh, they can't), it's not all their fault. Their city does NOTHING to help. 50-percent of my ire over the events of the last 24 hours is focused on the District of Columbia. Unprepared, under-resourced and poorly managed and deployed, the District basically left its residents on their own to cope with the onslaught of winter white. Second, I really have wonderful family and friends who were tremendous in helping me keep it together even when panic was threatening to over take me. Last night would have been much, much worse without that. And third, I am very lucky to have a tremendous work "family" that cares about one another the way this wonderful group of people do.
With that, I leave you with some pictures of the aftermath of what turned out to be eight inches of the heaviest, wettest snow I've ever encountered.
The pine trees on the main road leading to our development, bending
(and in some cases breaking) under the weight of wet, heavy snow
The pine tree on a street in our development that eventually
broke nearly in half from the weight it carried
The fab pile of snow Ben made in our flower bed shoveling
out the driveway so I could get my little silver bullet in
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