It took Mother Nature (e.g., Gaia) to finally stop the madness in DC, if only for a day. I myself enjoyed 2 hours watching amateurs try and drive in the slushy snow that came in on Wednesday. I was not sure I was going to make it through the cars which got stuck and then blocked roads.

The worst offenders were those who crept along at a snails pace, too afraid to keep up a reasonable speed. You have to maintain some momentum to get through drifts and ridges and up hills. Typically these were 4-Wheel drives and rookie operators

The other group of disasters were all those fancy real wheel sports cars who would stop on an up hill section before a light. Of course you could not get started on the up hill and the smart thing to do is to wait out the lights at the bottom. Lots of people don’t like the gap, but it is better than 4-5 stuck cars and a long night listening to the car radio.

The real hazard were the weighted down trees. I drive a rag top and refused to stop in front of tall, snow laden pine trees leaning over the road. Must be my survival instinct or something. Tragically, one driver in a truck was killed when a massive tree came down on his truck.

I also feel for all those poor people stuck on the GW Parkway all night. That must have been a nightmare.

By 9:30 PM I was able to get out and drive around, but it was not trivial. Lots and lots of abandoned vehicles to dodge, some main roads looked like they had not seen a plow, trees down.

Sadly, it took this much severe weather to stop the folks in DC from doing more damage. Not sure which is worse?