2024-01-20 00:01:44
(Washington, United States) “Now it is the real White House. That is her name, but to make more emphasis she is whiter,” María, a Cuban who lives in Miami but who is visiting Washington with her family and was “surprised” by the snow storm, tells Infobae with a laugh.
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“It was what we wanted to see, but it surprised us. It has been more than enough, because it has snowed a lot. But we are having a great time,” she added with the presidential residence behind her.
María, first on the left, with her family. She is a Latina tourist who lives in Miami and the snow storm found her visiting Washington (Photo: Gonzalo Ferreira)
For the second day in the week, and without the snow that had fallen on Tuesday having yet melted, the capital of the United States had a new winter storm this Friday that forced schools to close and affected public transportation in a city that became almost deserted.
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The snowstorm forced the closure of both public and private schools throughout the Washington metropolitan area, where 5.8 million people live and also includes parts of the states of Maryland and Virginia. Ronald Reagan and Dulles airports had to cancel and reschedule flights. The ice that forms with snowfall can become very dangerous. It is the first snowfall in two years, given that no episode was recorded in the winter of 2023.
The National Weather Service established alerts in different areas of the metropolitan area. For Loudoun County in Virginia and Montgomery and Frederick counties in Maryland, the warning was a “winter storm” until 7:00 p.m. local time. That activated a code red that involved closing schools and some public services. The same thing had happened on Tuesday, where the closures were even stronger, covering federal and state buildings. This Friday, in the DC area, the alert was milder, called a “winter weather warning.” On average for the entire metropolitan area, 3.5 inches of snow were expected this Friday. In some cities, such as Gaithersburg in Maryland’s Montgomery County, nearly 6 inches of snow accumulation was even expected.
After noon, a few blocks from the White House, five teenagers are playing snow fight. They make balls with their hands of snow collected from where there is grass every day and throw it at them, taking advantage of the fact that almost no one is walking on the streets. It is an area where the flow of pedestrian circulation is usually high, because it is the street that connects the White House with the National Mall, that green space that connects the Washington Monument, the capital’s iconic stone obelisk, with Congress. .
A child skis in front of the Washington Monument, the iconic obelisk of the United States capital (Photo: Gonzalo Ferreira)
That area was transformed this Friday into an improvised ski slope for dozens of people. A child was sliding at high speed, avoiding other people who were taking advantage of the snow to make snowmen and take photos with them. In recent days, images of a person who did a “speedride”, a combination of skiing and paragliding on the National Mall, also went viral.
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Walking near the obelisk two other young people play with snowballs. They are Colombians and have relatives in Jacksonville, but they are visiting Washington, where the snow storm surprised them.
Along with them come the women of the family, who prefer to take photos than the snow fight. “It was unexpected. We don’t have gloves, socks, scarves or anything. We are here improvising,” Valentina told Infobae. Nayibe said that it is the first time in her life that they have seen snow.
They are from Cali, Colombia, 3,940 kilometers from the capital of the United States. There this Friday it was 31° degrees at the same time that in Washington it was two degrees below zero. “It is a very different experience. We come from a city that is very warm, so it is very unexpected,” added Cecilia, another member of the Colombian family.
Hundreds of officials keep streets and sidewalks clean to allow circulation (Photo: Gonzalo Ferreira)
Meanwhile, the snow plows work once morest the clock. The human and material resources dedicated to clearing snow and keeping some streets and avenues clean are intense. In the limits of DC alone, more than 800 people and 500 specialized vehicles are in charge of clearing the main avenues in 12-hour shifts. Everyone has been specially trained for these winter emergencies and the goal is to prevent ice from accumulating and becoming dangerous.
On 17th Street NW, over Lafayet Square and a few meters from the White House, you can see an entire lane of a street occupied by trucks, machines and different types of vehicles prepared to free the streets. Municipalities use tons of salt to open sidewalks and prevent pedestrians from falling.
Machines and trucks ready to clear the snow and allow circulation (Photo: Gonzalo Ferreira)
In Bethesda, in Montgomery County in Maryland, Infobae observed dozens of people shoveling snow throughout the day.
Provida protesters march in Washington (Photo: Gonzalo Ferreira)
Although state officials of the federal government had to work this Friday, many offices enabled teleworking, which is why the streets were almost deserted. The subway, even at its usual peak hours, had very few passengers circulating.
When more movement was seen in the downtown area it was around noon because thousands of pro-life protesters had organized to carry out a massive march in front of the Supreme Court.
Pro-life protesters walk towards the march in Washington, in the middle of the snow (Photo: Gonzalo Ferreira)
This huge demonstration that was planned on the National Mall was not suspended despite the storm. Despite the cold and snow, many of them attended the event, which in any case was much less massive than expected as a result of the storm.
As the followingnoon falls, the postcard is very different from the one in the morning. Traffic has practically disappeared from the streets. There are only a handful of brave people left who dare to drive through the snow banks accumulated on the sides.
The postcard image of Washington DC covered in a white blanket will forever remain in the memory of tourists who were lucky enough to plan a trip to the capital just for this week. Although very low temperatures are expected for Saturday, there are no more snowfalls expected for the next few days so the thaw is regarding to fall. Washingtonians know that in a few days life will return to normal in this city that has recently become accustomed to extremes.
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