‘Pecan Meadow Farm’
courtesy of ‘Carly & Art’

Well, sorta. The Crystal City BID started a farmer’s market last year and handled management themselves. Washington Business Journal reports that when it returns in May it’ll be managed by FreshFarm, the non-profit organization that handles 9 other local markets, including the Dupont and the White House location.

It’s good news for those of us who reside in what I like to call The Area Formerly Known as Part of D.C. The contract is for three years, so presuming it continues to be successful that should provide some nice consistency.

I’m happy to see them get the contract just based on their sense of whimsy. FreshFarm’s website says of this weekend’s Silver Spring and Dupont Circle markets “Farmers and producers will attend based on their ability to dig out of the snow and get to market.”

‘Splash of Color’
courtesy of ‘Tony DeFilippo’

Despite not being particularly fashionable myself, I’m a huge fan of Manolo the Shoeblogger and his empire of specialty fashion sites. You may recognize Manolo from his weekly shoe-recommendation column in Express. This week, he takes on the Snowpocalypse.

And the District of Columbia, which is not the most efficient governmental entity on the planet, simply throws up its hands and snuggles down by the fire with the warm cup of cocoa, while the citizens are left to their own devices.

Of the course, there is the upside to all of this snow, such as dozens of days off from your job at the Department of Homeland Phrenology, the giant hilarious snow ball fights with your neighbors, and the chance to finally meet Yukon Cornelius.

‘Departure’
courtesy of ‘Rolenz’

UPDATE 11:58: Fire Chief Dennis Rubin: Incident is now under control 6 cars, 3 married repairs, passengers moved into 4 operational cars, decoupled from 2 derailed cars (that took a while) and moved back into the station. Other stuck trains have been sent on their way to destination. Evacuated passengers now on their way to work. Single tracking will be happening around FNorth. 345 passengers evacuated from train, only 3 injuries, very minor. “This incident is under control; it will not get worse.”

From WMATA.com (reposted in case their site gets crushed again):

A six-car Red Line train headed in the direction of Shady Grove Metrorail station has reportedly derailed near the Farragut North Metrorail station. There are no reported injuries.

Metro officials and local first responders are at the scene to investigate and to safely get customers off of the train and to the station.

The preliminary report is that the front wheels of lead car is the one that came off the tracks. The incident took place at 10:13 a.m.

Various Twitter-ers report major fire/EMT presence at Farragut North, including fire response turning people away from the stations. Continue reading →

‘Snow Deere’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

My roommate and I were walking around the city yesterday in awe of the ginormous piles of snow across the city. It’s not looking like it’ll warm up any time soon, so what are we going to do with these HUGE masses of snow?

I had a chance to talk with a snow disposal specialist in Arlington who was directing snow removal efforts along Clarendon Boulevard. He had four dump trucks and a front end loader scooping up snow off the streets and loading into the truck. “Where do you take the snow?” I asked. “Well, there are locations across the county,” he told me. “We take the snow there and then there is a huge coil that melts it down into water.” Arlington County lists four snow holding locations: S. Clark St. site (just off Old Jefferson Davis Hwy), Future Long Bridge Park (also off Old Jefferson Davis Hwy), Virginia Highlands parking lot (off S. Hayes St. near 15th) and Barcroft #6 parking lot (off Four Mile Run Dr. near George Mason Drive).

Arlington County Environmental Services says, “The County’s snow melter can melt roughly 60 tons of snow per hour. The melted snow will drain into the County’s stormwater sewer system, much like stormwater runoff from a rainstorm.” Arlington says other factors will help speed up removal. “Mother Nature is also expected to aid in the effort as warmer temperatures and sunshine return.”

‘2010:41’
courtesy of ‘::FiZ::’

I didn’t think they’d do it, but I was wrong- the Federal Government will be open tomorrow, on a “delayed arrival/unscheduled leave” policy. Employees are expected to report no later than 2 hours after their usual start time.

If you’re still stranded where you are, you’re SOL and will have to burn leave .

I haven’t seen anything from our local media yet but WSLS 10 in Roanoke has a nice 2 minute clip talking about the snow, melt, flooding risk, and what the water to snow ratio was for them in this storm.

The upshot is this: for the moment we’re not facing the kind of unpleasant flooding we saw after December’s massive snowfall, primarily because we’re in a colder pattern at the moment and we’re not following it up with rain that will accelerate the melt. While we’d all love to see this melt off we’d probably not enjoy seeing it happen too quickly.

That doesn’t mean we don’t need clear drains however – the curb outside my home is seeing a pretty steady flow of water as the sun-warmed blacktop and above-freezing temperature turns snow into slush and water. Take a moment to look around your home and make sure the downspouts are clear and any grates are free of leaf debris and other crap. We want this stuff to run off into the drain as expediently as possible so it doesn’t end up flooding our basements or frozen into black ice on the streets.