For the first time in nearly three years, Arlington experienced a significant snowfall.
Starting very early yesterday morning and finally tapering off in afternoon, preliminary estimates suggest that the county got close to seven inches of snow.
The storm brought power outages, closures, the suspension of bus service, cancellation of trash pick-up, and numerous skidding cars.
It was a very bad day to be on the roads, with the Arlington and VDOT crews unable to pre-treat the streets because the storm started off as rain.
It's been a hot minute since our area has seen accumulating snow like this, so we wanted to give a little refresher to those who haven't gotten their "snow legs" back just yet… 😉 pic.twitter.com/vwjbPdbxom
— VDOT Northern VA (@VaDOTNOVA) January 3, 2022
As of Tuesday morning, Arlington County snow crews — their ranks thinned by Covid absences — were tackling neighborhood streets after spending most of Monday treating and clearing main roads.
Phase 3 of cleanup will continue throughout the day, particularly on residential streets. A window of afternoon temps above freezing will help. Will be a great opportunity to shovel any sidewalks that weren't cleared yesterday. https://t.co/DuInmAUGlm #ArlWX pic.twitter.com/9GKyL8Rl6X
— Arlington Department of Environmental Services (@ArlingtonDES) January 4, 2022
Despite the challenges, with everything that the region has been dealing with lately, the snow also brought a considerable amount of joy to some.
“I love it,” Javed Malik told ARLnow, peering up at the falling flakes at Penrose Square. “It’s a beautiful, gorgeous day.”
In Ballston, kids and adults alike were spotted pulling sleds to the nearest hill. Pedestrians were reclaiming the covered streets as their own, snapping selfies and looking up at the snowy sky.
Persi George, from California, had never seen anything like it in person before.
“I’ve seen it before in the movies,” she said with a laugh standing in front of her apartment building along Columbia Pike. It’s a little softer than she expected, but that doesn’t dampen her enthusiasm as she prepares to make her first snow angel. “I’m in love with it.”
Yesterday was also set to be the first day back to school after the long holiday break with Arlington Public Schools continuing to commit to in-person instruction. That didn’t happen because the storm cancelled classes across Arlington and the region. School is cancelled today, too, with an expected refreezing overnight.
At least one teacher is breathing a sigh of relief. With Covid cases on the rise, likely due to holiday gatherings, the two extra days off provides more time for students to get tested.
“This couldn’t have been more well-timed. Coming back from the break, we are all worried about the rising case numbers,” Arlington high school teacher Josh Folb told ARLnow. “Hopefully, this gives people more time to get tested and… isolate, if needed. I haven’t talked to a teacher yet, and I’ve talked to a lot today, that isn’t grateful [about the snow days].”
There remains a chance it will snow again this week, Thursday night to Friday morning, though it’s not expected to dump as much snow as Monday’s storm.