News

Transportation Safety This Weekend

By ARLnow.com

Some hardy souls may try to drive this weekend, despite pleas from local governments for drivers to stay off the road. If you absolutely, positively must drive, you’re likely to encounter a few salt trucks along the way. For many drivers, the exact rules of engagement around slow-moving salt trucks is unclear. Do you pass? How close to you get? To help shed some light, here are some salt truck safety tips, as emailed to arlnow.com from the county’s Department of Environmental Services:

Snow Operations Tips: Roadway Safety

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Events

To Do Tonight: Dream of Spring

By ARLnow.com

With all this talk of blizzards and groundhogs seeing their shadows, now might be a good time to willfully escape from reality and dream about spring (which is exactly a month and a half away.) Tonight, naturalist Greg Zell will lead a presentation about the wide variety of natural habitats and unique wildlife that reside within Arlington’s borders. Imagine, while everybody else is fighting for bread, milk and toilet paper at the grocery store, you can be learning about natural wonders that exist in your own backyard.

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News

Prepare for Snowmageddon

By ARLnow.com

This is starting to sound very familiar: a major snowstorm is heading our way, just in time for the weekend. The storm is looking increasingly likely to be on par with the impact of the Dec. 19 “Snowpocalypse.” Most forecasters are predicting a minimum of 10 inches, with up to two feet possible. The fact that the snow is supposed to start around midday Friday should help facilitate an early start to the weekend for many.

Meanwhile, the state and the county have gone into full-blown end-of-the-world mode. Yesterday Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell declared what is likely his first state of emergency (mazel tov!), a full two days ahead of the storm. Arlington County, not to be outdone, is warning of “near blizzard conditions” and asking residents to be prepared to shelter in place for 3 to 5 days. From the Arlington Alerts:

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News

Emergency Exercise, Metro Closure Planned for Rosslyn

By ARLnow.com

Firefighters will use their recently-acquired Mobile Emergency Response Vehicles (MERVs) to travel through the tunnels. MERVs, which were used during the 2005 bombing of the London Underground, can reduce the time it takes first-responders to reach underground victims from 45 minutes to 4 minutes.

The exercise will take place between 9 AM and noon. The $1.2 million in funding for it came from a federal Homeland Security grant.

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Events

To Do Tonight: Crystal City Couture

By ARLnow.com

The actual promotional material contains the tagline “Wild, Sexy, Fashionable Fun!” and the theme “Jungle Jeans, Tats and Tees tease.” Okay, it’s a bit corny and slightly disturbing, but if you’re looking to publicize an event whose underlying mandate is to provide a contrast from Crystal City’s decidedly buttoned-up image… well, it gets the job done.

Tonight’s installment of the week-long fashion fest features t-shirt printing, a jeans design competition, and the usual host of local merchants parading their fashions down the runway.

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News

Arlington Makes Most-Charitable List

By ARLnow.com

Arlington landed third on a list of the top cities for online giving, according to cnet.com. The list was compiled by Convio, a firm that provides online services to non-profits.

Arlington donors gave, on average, $14.36 to charities via Convio. Alexandria placed first on the most-charitable list, with each donor giving an average of $20.24. Cambridge, Mass. placed second with $14.72 per donor.

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Weather

Snow Update

By ARLnow.com

South Arlington has about 1.75 inches of snow on the ground as of 10:15 PM. Big, heavy flakes are falling, and there’s no sign of it slowing down any time soon.

Partially due to pre-treating of roads, partially because of higher temperatures, the roads are still somewhat clear.

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Around Town

First Look at Clarendon’s New Cupcake Shop

By ARLnow.com

The store is a labor of love for chief cupcake maker Justin Stegall. Stegall’s sweets have been sold at various DC coffee shops, including Chinatown Coffee Co. (hat tip: Washington City Paper). Now, he finally has a storefront to call his own.

Bakeshop hasn’t officially opened yet, but Stegall has been inviting people to check out the store during special hours announced via Twitter. During Saturday’s snow storm, about 60 people stopped by for a so-called soft opening. Within five hours, the store was sold out.

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Weather

County Bracing For Overnight Snow

By ARLnow.com

With the first flakes beginning to fall, county snow removal crews are getting ready to tackle yet another significant snow storm. The National Weather Service is calling for 3-6 inches of snow, with the heaviest snowfall between 10:00 PM and 4:00 AM tonight.

The county says about 45 snow plows will be put into service tonight. Crews will work in 12-hour shifts to try to get streets cleared in time for the morning rush. Since first priority is given to the most heavily-traveled roads, expect most residential streets to be at least partially snow-covered.

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