What a difference a storm makes.
After January’s winter storm left nearly-impossible-to-plow snowcrete covering neighborhood roads in Arlington for days, local residents are waking up today to something very different: neatly plowed streets across much of the county.
Sunday night’s winter storm left about 3.5 inches of snow in Arlington’s East Falls Church neighborhood, according to the National Weather Service. Many of the county’s northern neighborhoods had similar accumulation totals, while slightly warmer southern spots like Crystal City had a later changeover from rain to snow and saw lower accumulation levels.
Unlike January’s storm, which dropped hours of icy sleet and was followed by a deep freeze, this storm had temperatures around the freezing mark in Arlington — it will rise into the upper 30s later today — and dropped wet snow that has proven easier to manage.
Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services said “some 40 trucks” were working to plow and salt overnight. Traffic cameras show main and secondary roads as mostly wet in southern parts of Arlington, while they’re plowed but slushy in parts from the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor to the north.
Though schools are closed for the day, Arlington County will be opening on a delay. Courts, rec centers and county offices will be opening at 10 a.m., while libraries will be opening at noon. The county has also kept its regular residential trash collection schedule today.
Most Metro bus routes are operating on a regular schedule, while Arlington Transit will be starting service at 10 a.m. with many routes on a lower service level.
“Beginning at 10am, ART will run a Severe Service level with ART routes 41, 45, 51, 55, 77 on regular route and ART routes 42, 43 begin regular route,” ART said. “We will reassess service levels as roads continue to be cleared. Thank you for your patience. STAR will operate normal service.”
Thanks to the assist from mother nature providing above-freezing temperatures, road conditions are expected to improve throughout the day Monday, though a dip into the lower 20s could cause refreeze concerns overnight.
The wind, meanwhile, will whip as the nor’easter continues to push out and intensify over New England. Winds of 18-20 mph, plus gusts up to 36 are expected today.
The heavy snow and wind has already caused some power issues in Arlington. Some 800 Dominion customers were without power at one point overnight, mostly in smaller pockets of outages in northern Arlington neighborhoods perhaps caused by falling branches. As of publication time about 150 homes and businesses are without power.
