‘Snowmageddon’ blankets mid-Atlantic

February 7, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cross-country skiers lapped the Reflecting Pool along the National Mall. Hundreds crowded Dupont Circle for a snowball fight organized with the help of the Internet.

The famous Constitution and Independence avenues were desolate, and a couple of skiers used steps of the Lincoln Memorial for a slope.

The scenes were not what tourists and locals are used to in the nation’s capital, which took on a surreal, almost magical Disney World-like feel as it was buried under nearly 2 feet of snow.

“Right now, it’s like the Epcot Center version of Washington,” said Mary Lord, 56, a D.C. resident for some 30 years who had skied around the city.

“Snowmageddon,” President Barack Obama called it. Even the president’s motorcade — which featured SUVs instead of limousines — fell victim to one of the worst blizzards ever to hit Washington. A tree limb snapped and crashed onto a motorcade vehicle carrying press.

From Pennsylvania to New Jersey, south to Virginia, the region was under at least 2 feet of snow. Parts of northern Maryland had 3 feet.

National monuments seemed even more stately and serene.

At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, soldiers’ names were buried 16 rows deep, and snow had settled randomly into letters so they stood out against the black background. The wreaths of the World War II Memorial looked like giant white-frosted doughnuts. The big attraction at the Lincoln Memorial — not the nation’s 16th president but rather a snowman — its eyes copper pennies with Lincoln’s likeness.

Obama, a snow veteran from his days in Chicago, spoke at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting and thanked those for being “willing to brave a blizzard. Snowmageddon here in D.C.”

But after that, the president went inside, hunkering down in the White House.

The snow fell too quickly for crews to keep up, and officials begged residents to stay home. The hope was everyone could return to work Monday.

The usually traffic-snarled roads were mostly barren, save for some snowplows, firetrucks, ambulances and a few SUVs. People walked down the middle of New York Avenue near the Verizon Center without fear of being hit. The Wizards game to be played there had been canceled.

The Capital Beltway, always filled with cars, was empty at times. Metro, the area’s rail system, shut down by 11 p.m., partly because of so-few riders.

Philadelphia, the nation’s sixth-largest city, was virtually shut down with a record of nearly 27 inches. The Philadelphia International Auto Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center downtown was a ghost town.

“Last year when I came, there was a line getting in,” said Walt Gursky, 28. “Much more relaxing in here — you can actually see what you want.”

Carolyn Matuska loved the quiet during her morning run along Washington’s National Mall.

“Oh, it’s spectacular out,” she said. “It’s so beautiful. The temperature’s perfect, it’s quiet, there’s nobody out, it’s a beautiful day.”

The ugly side of the snow led to thousands of wrecks. Trees toppled and about a half-million people were left in the dark and cold. Still, only two people had died — a father-and-son team who were killed trying to help someone stuck on a highway in Virginia.

Heavy, wet snow collapsed several roofs, including at Joshua Temple Church Ministry and a private jet hangar at Dulles International Airport.

The snow comes less than two months after a Dec. 19 storm dumped more than 16 inches on Washington. According to the National Weather Service, Washington has gotten more than a foot of snow only 13 times since 1870.

The heaviest on record was 28 inches in January 1922. The biggest snowfall for the Washington-Baltimore area is believed to have been in 1772, before official records were kept, when as much as 3 feet fell, which George Washington and Thomas Jefferson penned in their diaries.