Mother Nature reared her ugly head Saturday, dumping layer upon layer of snow on parts of the national capital region and imperiling weekend shopping and travel plans.
With many potential shoppers advised to stay indoors, retailers had reason to be nervous with less than one week until Christmas.
“When you lose a day of sales between now and Dec. 25, you don’t make it up,” said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Richard Jaffe. “If you’re closed for business on Saturday, you’re not going to do twice the business on Sunday.”
Tysons Corner Center was, in fact, open on Saturday with “all hands on deck” working to clear the area for shoppers, said spokeswoman Allison Fischer.
There were shoppers out and about, but Tysons was expecting less traffic on Saturday, Fischer said. She said she hoped people would stay safe and do their shopping Sunday or sometime next week.
Beyond potentially unpurchased sweaters and fruitcakes, the weather also wreaked havoc on area travelers.
Most flights scheduled for Saturday at Ronald Reagan International and Dulles International airports were cancelled, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Many were also cancelled at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall airport. Southwest airlines has offered customers holding reservations to or from Dulles on Saturday through 1 p.m. Sunday the option to rebook within 14 days without additional charge.
Preparations for the storm began early throughout the metro area. Va. governor Tim Kaine declared a state of emergency on Friday.
“Virginians need to pay attention to their local weather forecasters, avoid travel, and prepare to be on their own for up to 72 hours,” he said.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty also declared a snow emergency in the District, which took effect at 7 a.m. on Saturday. Maryland governor Martin O’Malley encouraged people to stay off the roads if possible.
The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the D.C. greater metro area, including Fairfax County, Montgomery County, Prince William County and Prince George’s County.
Early Saturday morning, there were few drivers in downtown D.C., blocks from the White House. Some sidewalks, like the path outside the National Association of Homebuilders, were cleaned early, by about 6:30 a.m. Otherwise, for a time, pedestrians and cars battled equally for the run of the cleared roads.
By about 7 a.m. the slumbering areas of the city began grinding into gear, as metrobuses slowly scoured the roadways for potential passengers. One biker headed north on 16th Street just past 7 a.m., braving the wind and cold as they passed the House of the Temple, a Scottish Rite Masons building.
Metro did report “major delays” for its Metrobuses and MetroAccess trips Saturday. Metro also cancelled track maintenance scheduled to occur on the red and blue lines in anticipation of the storm.
Elsewhere, the plowing, scraping and shoveling crews were out in full force. The Maryland State Highway Patrol began pretreating bridges, ramps and overpasses with salt brine as early as Thursday.
“SHA crews will be out throughout the storm and get roads to bare pavement as soon as possible after the last flakes fall,” said SHA Administrator Neil J. Pedersen.
Still, many area events were cancelled and facilities closed because of the weather. Not even flu clinics were spared in some spots. Montgomery health officials cancelled a planned H1N1 vaccine clinic to be held Sunday at Montgomery College, and the D.C. Department of Health cancelled the clinic that had been scheduled for Saturday at Kennedy Recreation Center from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
