Photo by Faucetini.

Today’s weather: partly sunny, 71 degrees, a strong breeze at times. A perfect transitional day between the oppressiveness of summer and the chill of late fall to come. So let’s talk about snow, shall we?

Metro is ahead of the curve and provides some information about its preparations for the winter season, including some fascinating discussion of modified ice scrapers. WMATA’s purchased some snow plows and snow blowers so that bus service can keep going during snowy conditions. The transit agency has also dedicated 20 trains to de-ice the rails and will prioritize service over the Yellow Line bridge across the Potomac. It should be noted that none of this will really help if, like last winter, snowfalls accumulate over eight inches — in which case, Metrorail will still be running underground only. (Sorry, suburbanites!)

Of course, all these arrangements might not be necessary: Capital Weather Gang says that “the odds are strongly stacked against a historically snowy winter in the D.C. metro region.” Fair enough. But after last winter, what counts as “historically snowy”? Getting five inches someday in January probably doesn’t qualify — but you know that Washingtonians will still be running around like madmen in search of bread and milk like they always do when the white stuff starts falling.