Photo by PoPville flickr user rjs1322
What are folks doing who have to walk their dogs? Is it simply insane?
And just in from the folks at Taylor Gourmet – both of their stores are open today (1116 H Street NE and 485 K St NW). If you know of other places open please leave in comments but unless you have to walk the dog it might be best just to stay home.
Photo from PoPville Flickr user Sanjay Suchak
On Thursday, February 11th, Food & Friends needs 20 volunteers to deliver meals, especially those with 4-wheel-drive vehicles. Those without cars would be very much appreciated in the kitchen, and it would be great if they could come between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Volunteers may sign up to [email protected]. This information is also available on our website at www.foodandfriends.org/winterstorm2010. Without Food & Friends, our clients likely will not eat, so the help of the community is vital. Meals may be picked up from Food & Friends (219 Riggs Road, NE/Washington, DC) between 10 a.m. and 12 a.m., we will provide detailed delivery directions, and routes should take no more than 3 hours. For more information, prospective volunteers may call 202.841.5347.
Since lots of people are still at home your videos won’t be blocked by the man. So I’m gonna share a couple that were sent to me. This is a great one with lots of fun footage from Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park. I’ll be posting another one called ‘Cabin Fever’ later this afternoon.
Washington, DC Snow Storm from Es Video! on Vimeo.
Photo by PoPville flickr user rosiedawn
“Dear PoP,
With all the snow we have had, and more on the way, you may want to do an article about the dangers of snow / ice falling onto your head from above. We live in a Victorian-style rowhouse on capital hill with no awning, and most of the houses around us are similar. During this storm, as well as the last bad one, I was struck on the head by falling snow / ice that was jarred loose by the opening and closing of my front door. The sloping roof seems to lend itself to the accumulation of overhanging ice and snow with sharp icicles. This afternoon, we heard a huge crash as the ice and snow from next door that was hanging right above the entrance door fell crashing down onto the porch. It was about 60 – 80 pounds of snow and ice hanging 8-10 inches over the roofline, complete with razor-sharp icicles. A little melt from the sun and it let go catastrophically. Long time residents are aware of the danger, but newbies may not be. The solution? Open the tops of your upstairs windows while standing on the sill, and reach up with a broom to knock the dangerous overhanging snow and ice off the roofline. Please post this warning, as, if someone had been standing on the porch next door when the avalanche occurred, they could have been seriously hurt or even killed!”
A reader asked about this in one of yesterday’s comments but I thought it was worth a separate post. At one point should we start to freak out about our roofs? If we get another 20″ are we in trouble? If the roof is slightly pitched will it be ok? Anyone know roughly how many inches of snow our roofs can support? I feel like I hear 18″ somewhere. It is not possible for many of us to shovel our roofs, if that is the case do we just drink and hope for the best?
I guess lots of folks are thinking about this because I just received the following email:
“I live in one of those two-story mini-houses discussed here with some frequency. It’s 13-feet wide, 30-some feet deep and two stories tall without a basement.
My question is this: Should I shovel my roof? My adjoining neighbor just did so to explore a leak that developed on Sunday and he must have pushed tons of snow off the edge. I wonder if all that weight could breach the roof or cause it to fail? Now there’s more snow coming — more than this house has seen in years — and although my roof has never given me any trouble, it is more than a decade old. If anybody is wondering, my roof has a slight pitch back from the street, probably less than 10%.”
Not sure if the National Guard was deployed but this Humvee was spotted on Taylor Street in Petworth on Sunday.
I didn’t think it could get better than an igloo (see below) but a reader writes:
“I just thought I would share a few pictures from up north in Silver Spring Saturday evening. My husband and our neighbors decided to forgo the traditional snow fort in favor of a snow bar. It wasn’t long before we had about 20 neighbors and friends of friends showing up to enjoy the crisp snowy evening. It’s a rare occasion when our city-friends are jealous of a night in Silver Spring and this was certainly the night!”
At first I thought it was a good looking snow fort but they were actually building an igloo. Not sure if they ever got the roof up but I respect the effort!
Thanks to a reader for sending.
From Alert DC:
“National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for D.C., effective noon tomorrow to 7PM Wednesday. All parts of the forecast that were just sent remain the same, except the projected snow totals HAVE BEEN INCREASED TO 10-20”.