Word of the week: snowcrete
I love a good snowfall more than most people probably do, but the five days since this season’s first big snowstorm have served up a wintry mix that I’m not so sure about–at least, from a pedestrian perspective.
First we had about half a foot of snow fall from Saturday night through Sunday morning, then the snow changed to sleet over that afternoon, then we had some freezing rain overnight, then the temperature hasn’t reached 30 degrees since. Result: That accumulation is now armored under a protective coat of ice anywhere that hasn’t been plowed or shoveled clean or ground down from sufficient foot traffic.
That hard surface–“snowcrete,” as we now call it–sparkles marvelously in the sun and under streetlights or moonlight, and it’s a huge pain to try to clear. I had to take a shovel, as in the metal gardening kind, to punch through that frozen exoskeleton in our driveway and at a nearby bus stop. Trying to lift too much of it with one of our snow shovels cracked the plastic bracket around its handle, and days later my right shoulder is still sore.
(My reward for doing that transportation civic duty was not having normal bus service restored until Friday, which was also when I remembered that I’d forgotten to shovel out the stop on the other side of that street.)
Because so many people have yet to do battle with the snowcrete in front of their abodes and because the snowplows that have now cleared streets for cars left boulder-sized chunks of snow and ice on their edges, getting around on foot has become a dicey proposition. You have to walk slowly to avoid slipping and falling on an icier patch, too many intersections require stepping over or around a snow obstacle course, and boarding a bus can become its own minor adventure.
D.C. has fallen far enough behind for Mayor Bowser to ask the National Guard servicemembers sent here by President Trump as political props to help clear the snow. The only appropriate response if you see them doing their part: Thank you for your service.
#blizzard #freezingRain #ice #packedSnow #sleet #snow #snowcrete
