Virginia Square Family Builds Igloo With Room for Two on Their Front Yard

Record low temperatures and several snowstorms have some in Arlington feeling like they live in the Arctic, but one local family is taking it to the next level.

Graeme Lee, his wife and two children built an igloo on the front yard of their home on the 3500 block of 14th Street N., near Virginia Square. The structure with room for two adults serves as a play space for the family’s children, and Lee even drank a beer there with a neighbor.

Anyone passing through the igloo’s small entrance — which is key for keeping out the cold and wind — has to drag themselves through the snow, belly down. Inside, Lee’s family keeps a flashlight and a small Frisbee they use to rearrange the snow.

“Once you get in there, it’s remarkably warm and quiet,” he said.

The Lees built the igloo — which is topped with a nutcracker ornament with continually swinging arms — after the year’s first snow. First, they heaped snow into a mound to build a snowman. Noticing the mound looked like a dome, they opted to make an igloo.

“My wife took a snow-survival course, and learned how to make an emergency snow shelter,” Lee told ARLnow.com this morning as more snow fell. “I thought ‘Maybe we could do that in our yard.'”

The Australian natives, who both work for the federal government, let the snow settle on the dome for four days. Then, they spent an hour shaping its outside and its entrance, and another hour to carve out the inside with shovels.

The igloo survived rain and warmer weather on Saturday, which melted plenty of snow in the area. The igloo will remain on the Lees’ front yard until it melts.