With snow expected today and officials nervous of what it could do to the evening commute, the Office of Personnel Management announced this morning that federal workers could take unscheduled leave or work from home.

If that seems like the government is being overly cautious for what might not be that much snow, it is. It was just last year that OPM changed its policies to be more flexible in situations like these and avoid a repeat of January 26, 2011, when snow and ice snarled the evening commute so badly that some motorists said it took them up to 13 hours to get home.