“up to two inches of snow beginning around 1:00 a.m”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Paul Sirajuddin

You have been warned!!

From a press release:

“The National Weather Service is forecasting up to two inches of snow beginning around 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 17. To prepare, the DC Snow Team will deploy more than 200 trucks at 7:00 pm this evening to treat all National Highway System, primary, secondary and residential routes within the District ahead of the morning commute. The DC Snow Team will also have trucks on standby throughout Wednesday morning to monitor and treat roads as necessary. In preparation for this evening’s anticipated precipitation, major roads in the District were pretreated with liquid brine over the holiday weekend. Residents and motorists can register to receive important weather alerts from the District on their devices by signing up for AlertDC at alertdc.dc.gov.

To prepare for the snow, residents are encouraged to heed the following tips:

· Take Metro as an alternative to driving.

· If driving, do so cautiously and maintain safe speeds and distances from other vehicles.

· Keep a safe distance from emergency and snow vehicles and use caution when attempting to pass a snowplow. Give the drivers plenty of room to safely do their jobs.

· Be aware of hazardous road conditions, particularly black ice which can be deceptive in appearance and give drivers a false sense of security on the road.

· Keep your gas tank full.

· Drive carefully on bridges, ramps, and other elevated structures which can freeze before the roadway.

The DC Snow Team encourages residents and commercial property owners to apply abrasives such as rock salt, de-icer, or non-clumping kitty litter to the sidewalks around their properties to reduce the possibility of icing and to prevent slips and falls.

Cold Emergency Plan

The DC Department of Human Services (DHS), in collaboration with the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA), will activate the city’s Cold Emergency Plan at 7:00 p.m. this evening. Under a Cold Emergency Alert, additional services and supports are provided to protect residents from life-threatening illness and injury associated with severe cold weather. To request transportation to shelter for persons in DC who are experiencing homelessness, contact the toll-free Shelter Hotline at (202) 399-7093 or by calling 311.”