Photo by LaTur

Good morning, Washington. For some reason it’s only 15 degrees outside right now. This seems a little excessive, even for February. Luckily, the 5-day forecast shows significant warming through the weekend and beyond. Unluckily, the overnight drop in temperature has once again been accompanied by a whole bunch of water main breaks. Is DCist sure about the science behind its assertion that sudden, extreme cold temperatures lead to water main breaks? Nah, we’re just guessing. Is DCist unduly obsessed both with winter weather conditions and water main breaks? Err, guilty. We’re proclaiming February 5 as the official date marking The Dead of Winter. Things can only get brighter from here. Right? Right??

D.C. Real Estate Board Member Quits: The Examiner reports that Lawrence Smith, a member of the city’s real estate board, has quit, claiming the board is becoming too politicized. Smith is accusing Mayor Fenty’s appointee to the board, Towanda Paul-Bryant, of being inexperienced and unqualified, writing in a letter to Fenty and D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray that, “The singular qualifying attribute that she claims to the members is her friendship with the mayor.”

I-270 Ramp Closed for Police Investigation: Montgomery County police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found on an I-270 exit ramp near Germantown early this morning. A driver spotted the body around 4 a.m. at the Father Hurley Boulevard ramp and called police. The ramp is closed while police investigate.

Briefly Noted: D.C. firefighter shoots woman, her parents, then kills himself … Dulles, Reagan airport agency seeks to increase transit fees … Authorities seized more than 14 pounds of cocaine at BWI … Seven-week-old puppy rescued after being found frozen to the ground.

This Day in DCist: In 2008, we were prepping for another possible taxi strike, and in 2007, 94.7 was changing formats.