Aftermath

The sunlight flitters through the trees, eventually reaching the ground, reflecting off the dense white surface, and bounding back to the sky the outside awash in overly bright light. Sometime after 10:30 last night the snow that had pelted Richmond, Virginia for over 36 hours had subsided and for the first time in two days the sun is beating down. The winter storm, dubbed Jonas by The Weather Channel, has finally cleared the area.

WWBT, Richmond, reports that depending on your exact location between 12 to 17 inches of snow now blankets the area. A quick survey of the parking lot makes it look more like 17 to 20 inches. The cars all look like spirits of their former selves, haunting the parking lot for eternity. Mostly brooms, with a few dustpans, snow brushes, ice scrapers, and other assorted tools, are used to begin clearing the thick white mass by a populous that is not prepared for the beating that they have received.

“Motorists are advised to stay off roads not only for safety, but to allow crews to clear snow as efficiently as possible,” VDOT states on their website. The roads and parking lots are a mess. A singular swath is cut through the middle of the complex parking lot, the only path the plow last night cleared. The Times-Dispatch, Richmond's daily newspaper, has announced that the Sunday paper will only be delivered to limited areas and delivery won't even commence until after noon. The rest of the routes will only be delivered to once it is safe for travel. The Washington Post and The New York Times, both of which are printed for the local marketplace around Washington, D.C. will not be available today at all locally since they were unable to make the roughly 110 mile trek from the D.C. area, which was hit far worse by the winter storm, to Richmond.

Off on the side a snow blower run by the property maintenance kicks on. Richmond slowly tries to dig out from the mess, a process that will take time. VDOT told WWBT that secondary roads may be difficult for the next few days.

For most of Richmond, and I suspect a lot of the area, yesterday's snow day continues into today and for some will probably continue into Monday.