What was expected to be a light rain event on Veterans Day in 1987 turned into a freak snowstorm in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. A narrow band of heavy snow developed right over the 95 corridor with nearly one foot of snow accumulating at National airport and upwards of 17″ in parts of Prince Georges county, Maryland. All time November snow records were broken at National airport. The day before featured mostly sunny skies with highs in the 60s!
Monday (the observed Veterans Day holiday) will feature increasing clouds and mild conditions with highs in the mid to upper 60s.
- A strong cold front will move through the D.C. Area Monday night and Tuesday accompanied by rain showers.
- Highs on Tuesday through Friday will range between 45 and 50 degrees!
I was 6 months pregnant with my first child and living in Fairfax Virginia and working in Lanham Maryland. They closed my work at 11 a.m. I don’t not arrive home until 8 a.m. the next morning. I spent almost 20 hours on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. It was a very long night.
Boy, do I remember the “White Veteran’s Day!” I was in 8th grade at the time, and that morning we had gotten a 2-hour delay from school. While I was on the bus, a parent at the next stop told our driver that she’d heard that Prince George’s County schools were now closed. Following that report, the bus driver turned around and took us all back home. However, when I turned on the TV to double check, I found out that the parent had heard wrong-it was MONTGOMERY County schools that were closed, and Prince George’s County schools were still open! ACK. Mom and Dad said to stay home anyway, even though I’d already missed seven days due to a staph bug. From what I heard about the subsequent traffic chaos due to the snow piling up and the schools still being open, it’s just as well. Some poor students didn’t get home until close to midnight, and I don’t know how those drivers managed to get through without totaling their buses or anything like that. My hat goes off to them! Thank goodness the county I live in now is used to snow and calls the ball early on, or things would REALLY get fugly!