A snowstorm today that in terms of accumulation was not in the same league as last winter's "Snowpocalypse" (Feb 2010) or "Snowmageddon" (Dec 2009), has caused what may turn out to be the worst gridlock this metropolitan area has ever experienced.

The snow -- extremely wet, tree-busting snow -- starting falling hard about 3:00p in the western suburbs. It was most intense between 4:00p-7:00p (rush hours). It ended around 11:30p From a few inches in DC to 8-10" further out, a foot in some places 50 miles west of the Beltway. Some weather forecasters (such as The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang) nailed the forecast (which I circulated to all my friends and posted on Facebook).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/?sub=AR

Best wishes to anyone still struggling to get home. A friend of mine left her office in Rockville at 3:00p. As of midnight she still was not close to getting home (Damascus) -- an 18 mile drive. She's supposed to call me when she gets home (it's now 2:00a). Her husband is stranded in Leesburg, VA -- catching a few hours sleep at a gas station.

Her 8 months pregnant daughter-in-law is in a car somewhere with a non-functioning cell phone. She was last heard from several hours ago.

Car-bus crashes, downed power lines, exploding transformers, stuck and abandoned vehicles.

Many cars ran out of fuel.

Hundreds of thousands without power. Emergency vehicles can't get to fires, crashes and heart attack victims. It is a disaster scene still unfolding.

I'm listening to Fairfax County (VA) Police radio -- the chatter is incredible. The snow stopped two hours ago yet I-66 inside the Beltway is paralyzed. The GW Parkway northbound is closed (trees). Side streets impassable. Temps now below freezing....

I walk to work and our power lines are underground so have been blessedly immune from this nightmare. Sympathies to the millions who are significantly impacted.

There will be extensive Monday morning quarterbacking and after-action reports on what went wrong (decision to close Fed Gov't mid-afternoon, snow plow-salting strategies and execution, variance in forecaster predictions, the folly of individuals with ill-equipped vehicles and poor snow driving skills....)

No one expected this disastrous degree of gridlock.