Washington got hit with a rare major snowstorm Saturday.  Different areas around the capital city got different amounts of snow, but in my home near Manassas, Virginia, we got almost 25 centimeters.  That's a lot for a community that has snow perhaps three times a year.

There were reports of power outages in different regions and the local authorities were encouraging everyone to stay home if possible.  The roads were impassable.  The road crews are doing everything they can to clear the major highways, but secondary roads, like the ones leading to an in my neighborhood, are still blanketed in snow. 

The metro Washington area does not receive that amount of snow very often.  The last time we got anywhere close was just before Christmas of 2009, when the area received abotu 20 centimeters of snow.  It snowed again in late January, and then February 5 it poured down snow in amounts people have not seen in years.

The last time it snowed this much in my memory was 1996, when we had the so-called "blizzard of 96." That storm paralyzed the city and had snow piled up on streets for weeks.  There was a similar storm on President's Day (February 15) in 2003. I was in Florida for that one because my mother-in-law was getting married.  But we came home to it and had to dig into the driveway just to get in our house.  That was quite a contrast - going from 25 degrees and sunshine in Miami to -5 degrees and 15 centimeters of snow in Washington.

But staffers at VOA kept the news on the air. Through remote studios and through the dedication of people who were willing to stay at their posts this week despite the weather, the show went on.

There have been reports that Cypress Mountain in Canada - one of the venues for this month's Winter Olympics - doesn't have any snow.  I have some they can come get - all over my yard! I'll be in Vancouver starting February 12, so look for posts on this site.