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DC is ready to take on the impending winter storm, according to the city’s ‘Snow Queen’

By Alan Etter

D.C. officials say they’re in pretty good shape to handle the predicted 5 to 9 inches of snowfall expected to fall Sunday night into Monday. But they’re continuing to monitor the situation and remain flexible to deploy resources where they’re needed.

Warnique West is D.C.’s snow team coordinator. She’s also known as the city’s “Snow Queen.”

West told WTOP that they have about 300 vehicles on standby and approximately 800 personnel, both city workers and contractors, ready to jump into action.

“I have four salt domes that hold a capacity of 42,000 tons [of road salt],” West said. “I also have three different locations where I house brine, so I constantly try to keep that somewhere around 18,000 gallons of beet juice at a minimum.”

Larger streets have already been treated. West expects treatment of residential streets to begin Sunday at noon.

West said the city’s snow team started working in October to anticipate weather patterns and predict, as best as possible, the potential for snowfall this winter.

It’s shaping up to be an incredibly busy month for city resources. With the snowstorm, the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, a planned Donald Trump rally on Jan. 19, and Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, government agencies across D.C. are being put to the test.

As it turned out, the Department of Public Works had already lent dump trucks to the U.S. Secret Service to block traffic for President Carter’s funeral. So, there are more contractors on hand than usual during this snow event.

With the melting snow comes a hazard to our waterways

By Alan Etter
The ice and snow that fell on the D.C. area during last month's storm is finally starting to melt. The ice dunes that have been on the sides of streets for weeks are slowly shrinking. But as the melting continues, there's a danger that's seeping into our waterways. "Salt is the biggest enemy of fresh water that there ever was," said Sujay Kaushal, a professor of geology at the University of Maryland. "It's a very pressing issue. I'd say salinization issues are the oldest, most boring but yet most important problem there is for water quality."
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