With most of the Deep South currently under a blanket of snow -- those trying to get from Washington to Atlanta anytime soon might want to look into getting someplace to spend the night -- there's yet another round of speculation today: how hard will Washington get hit? The answer, as has been the case for every other threat of accumulation this season, is that no one's really sure. more ›

Feel passionately about how the District handled the record breaking snowfall this winter? Well, the D.C. Dept. of Transportation is inviting folks to provide feedback on their efforts in an online chat with Director Gabe Klein Friday afternoon. more ›

Choire Sicha has this exactly right. The Washington Post chose an intricate Peep diorama based on the movie for the winning entry in its annual Easter contest, but the paper chose the wrong entry. "Snowpeepalype" is the one to beat. This diorama captures all the sound and fury of the event upon which it is based. more ›

Woo Super Bowl! That was a football game. more ›

Nearly two quarters through the Super Bowl, no one has any idea yet whether Metro buses will be running or whether above-ground Metro stations will be open -- except for the Circulator, which the District Department of Transportation says will be up and running and free (!) to boot. Despite the late hour and lack of clear plans for getting around the city tomorrow, Mayor Adrian Fenty seems to want to keep the District government open for business tomorrow. At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown seems to think this is a bad idea. more ›

That's right, I said it, . You see, we are getting more snow on Tuesday. Plus the Super Bowl is about to come on, and professional football sometimes features slow-motion replays. So it's not slow motion, it's snow motion! more ›

Fire should not be a problem during a blizzard. Fire beats electrical wires, snow puts out fire, salt covers snow: It's the paper-rock-scissors order of nature. Yet ABC7 reports that the snow hampered firefighters, not the fire itself, during a blizzard blaze in Great Falls last night. Firefighters trudged in waist-deep snow up a -- wtf is up with a mile-long driveway! -- and arrived in time to safely escort the residents away with their vehicles and some other stuff. Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Deputy Chief Andrew Duke told ABC7 that the firefighters were unable to get water-pumping equipment to the house in time. One would think he would continue by saying, "Which is okay, because it was snowing, so the snow put out the fire, nbd." One would think. more ›

Perhaps you have not heard today's top story: The District of Columbia was destroyed by snow yesterday. Some things you might like to do -- like leaving, for example -- are no longer in the cards. Here's a short list of things you won't be doing today: more ›

D.C. chilling, P.G. chilling, writ large. In this particular instance, it's a bunch of snow-white people on a snow-white Pennsylvania Avenue near 13th Street NW. This photo by erin m captures folks who look all too willing to suffer the status quo, when they should most certainly be clamoring for a warmer climate. Terrible, terrible people. This isn't a road children should be forced to walk. more ›

Via reader extraordinaire IMGoph comes this image of snowpocalyptic destruction. The pic was snapped by Roofwalkers; IMG seems to believe the image is a scene from I-270. Many on Twitter are saying that snowplows on the ground are light, despite the early forecast that snow would fall today. more ›

The D.C. Emergency Management Agency reports (via the AlertDC text service) that the city will pre-treat roads in advance of a storm expected early on the morning of New Year's Eve -- a storm that will close out the last day of 2009 with an awful wintery mix. District Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works will suspend leaf-collection services on Thursday so that the crews can mount plows and salt spreaders on the trucks. Though officials are not predicting a snowpocalypse-level event, they do expect roads to re-freeze late on New Year's Eve and for hazardous conditions to carry over on New Year's Day. Be mindful, plan to stay in (or out), take advantage of the bevy of public transit options provided by Metro, and remember: The New Year can only improve from wintery-mix conditions. more ›

Sure, we've been all a-flutter about Twitter this year, but it's nice to see a District agency actually put it to good use when it's needed most. more ›

As many a commenter have pointed out, while the District's roads are mostly in the clear today, sidewalks are a different story. Clearing the city's roads falls squarely on the District government, while most sidewalks are left to the homes or businesses they are in front of. And for any number of reasons, not every homeowner and entrepreneur does their civic duty, leaving local sidewalks a mish-mash of well-tended walkways to icy patches of death. Both Housing Complex and the Post have outlined the legal responsibilities and liabilities involved in clearing sidewalks -- if someone falls on ice in front of your house, they essentially have to prove that you were negligent in order to sue you -- while Prince of Petworth has posted his "Sidewalks of Shame" and Greater Greater Washington is taking some large buildings to task for not clearing away snow and ice. The main point for pedestrians is to remain vigilant, and for homeowners and businesspeople to get off their asses and do some sidewalk-clearing. If you can't, email us, because we're sure someone who reads the site will happily do the work for a price. Just imagine -- Monkeyrotica could be shoveling your walk. more ›

If you need to drive somewhere in the District today, getting there won't be too much of a problem. Parking, though, might be. more ›

• Now that main roads are cleared, residential neighborhoods are the focus for clean-up — the D.C. snow team will be out until 8 p.m. tonight. more ›

Metropolitan Police Department's Chief of Police Cathy Lanier issued a statement this morning in response to the off-duty officer who pulled out his gun at Saturday's snowball fight after snowballs hit his car. more ›

The Capital Weather Gang attempts to explain just why D.C. got hit with so much snow this weekend. It's a little bit technical, but essentially a weather pattern from the North Pole sent lots of cold air down towards us, while El Niño's warm water provided the moisture. more ›

Good morning D.C.! Today marks the first day of winter, something that's pretty clear from a look out the window — or from the snowday you have if you if you work for the federal government. Sommer goes on vacation starting today, but DCist will be in good hands with a line-up of guest editors. I'm kicking things off today, and will also be back at the helm next Monday. more ›

Metro just announced that they will be suspending Metrobus service at 7 p.m. tonight due to icy conditions on the roads. 22 lines had been running on limited schedules during the day today. WMATA warns that we shouldn't expect a whole lot of bus service tomorrow, either, but the agency will re-evaluate conditions tomorrow and make adjustments to schedules as allowable. As far as Metrorail goes: the Yellow Line Bridge, connecting Pentagon and L'Enfant Stations, reopened at 4 today. All other above ground stations remain closed, and Metro brings the discouraging word of "some re-icing of the electrified third rail as the temperatures drop and the winds are blowing snow back onto the tracks." For those who haven't been gifted a snow day by the federal government, it sounds like it could be a long and arduous commute tomorrow morning. more ›

Mayor Randy McClement of Frederick, Maryland, has asked drivers to move their parked cars off streets in order for city crews to perform curb-to-curb plowing, according to ABC 7. But where are they supposed to go in the meantime? There is free parking at the city garages until 6 a.m. Monday, but then drivers need to get to the city garages to retrieve their vehicles -- which is to say nothing of how they are supposed to get home from the garages. Nevertheless, the sooner the streets are plowed -- and plowed curb to curb -- the easier it will go for drivers. Maryland could see more drivers abandoning their autos, given how much snow is everywhere and how bad all Maryland drivers are. Yet as bad as the roads are in Maryland, it's no Springfield. more ›

Check out these delightful scenes of the District. Of course, these shots were taken yesterday, before people put away the snow machines and pulled out the snow shovels, before levity turned into layovers. I think I'd like to stay in yesterday a little longer (except for the gun stuff). more ›

It'll be a cold day in hell when the Congress passes progressive health care reform with a 60-vote supermajority. Wait, what? more ›

It's no longer snowing outside DCist headquarters, and a hefty dose of sunshine is doing some good work -- but boy, is there still plenty of white stuff on the ground. An update for those of you who are looking forward to getting back to reality: getting around, locally and in the wider sense, will definitely still suck today, oh yes. more ›

Early on, MPD officers tolerated the chaos. Around 150 snowballers lined up on the east and west sides of 14th Street NW just north of U Street, idling politely as passing cars sludged through the intersection before rushing out to meet one another on the icy field of combat. A few activist-types carried riot shields featuring the anarchy symbol and unfurled a giant banner reading "No War but Snow War." One snowballer carried an IKEA bag full of snowballs, as good a visual metaphor for a snowball fight at that intersection as you could hope to find. Good times. more ›

It's the big question of the day: what's actually open for those of us who have been stuck inside all day and are suffering from serious cabin fever? DCist has confirmed the not-even-close-to-comprehensive list below -- of course, with the snow coming still coming down, we highly recommend that you call individual destinations on your own before you make your way anywhere this evening. more ›

The helpful weatherpeople at the Capital Weather Gang are certainly qualified to conduct this poll of public opinion about what the great snowstorm of December '09 shall be dubbed. Obviously, the voters have good taste: "Snowpocalypse" is currently sitting pretty with a whopping 38% of the vote. Just as a matter of public record: CWG, we've been holding serve over that term since at least aught five! If the term ends up sticking, I'm sure we'll be in touch about where to send the royalty checks. Or trade them to insure that it doesn't end up being "The Great Festivus Snowicane." Oof. more ›

Interested in keeping an eye on the District's purveyors of plow? Curious as to whether or not you'll be walking on a cleared road after making the startling realization that there's only enough beer to last you for another couple of hours and deciding, after much deliberation and in blatant rebellion of the Mayor's decree, to venture out into the cold? Run out of things to play with on the internet already? Well, judging by the large number of complaints we've heard about the snow removal today, DDOT's new Snow Response Reporting System might just be for you, fellow shut-in! This new web app allows you to search for locations by street address, intersection, block, or just general landmarks (like Dupont Circle, above), pick a start and end time, and boom -- it'll show you where DDOT vehicles have been pushing snow and laying down large quantities of sodium chloride. The app also promises to label roads as "Icy," "Impassible," or the always fun "Snow or Slush Covered W/ Tire Tracks Exposed" -- not that any of these designations should give you any confidence whatsoever about getting behind the wheel. more ›

While DCist film critic extraordinaire Ian Buckwalter was out and about this morning, he captured this video of a Metrobus fishtailing in a futile attempt to get up the incline at the intersection of 18th and U Streets NW. It's all the justification one needs to know that keeping buses off the roads for the rest of the day was a smart idea. more ›

Adrian Fenty is asking if those of you who are out there braving the elements could please come inside now. more ›

"[W]e are fast-reaching the point where we risk trains becoming stranded on snow-covered tracks," said Metro General Manager John Catoe in a statement released moments ago. All underground stations will remain open until 3 a.m. tonight, as usual. more ›