Road Weather Management Program
photos of lightning, trucks plowing snow, an empty road before a storm, and an evacuation
Office of Operations 21st century operations using 21st century technologies

Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

Best Practices > Publications > Publication Titles

Title:

The U.S. Department of Transportation's After Action Report on the Blizzard of 1996 (Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area)

Abstract:

On Saturday evening, January 6, 1996, the Washington metropolitan area was hit by a major storm which produced heavy snowfall and strong winds. When the storm ended on Sunday evening, more than 24 inches of snow had fallen and significant drifting had occurred over much of the metro area as well as most of Maryland and Virginia. Another snow storm arriced on Tuesday, January 9th, followed by a third snow storm on Thursday evening, January 11th. These storms left an additional 12 inches of snow over the metro area. The offices of the Federal Government and many state and local govenments, schools and businesses were closed in part because the snow clearance and removal capacities of the area's agencies and organizations were overwhelmed. The transportation system in the region was for fully operational for several days. On January 19th, the President requested a review of the Washington area's response to the "Blizzard of '96" to consider various options for improving snow removal strategies for the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the State of Maryland. This effort was coordinated by FEMA. This document summarizes fedearal, state and local agency responses; and provides recommendations for future events

Source(s):

U.S. DOT. For an electronic copy of this resource, please direct your request to WeatherFeedback@dot.gov.

Date: 1996

Author:

U.S. DOT

Keywords:


Snow
Winter storm

PDF files can be viewed with the Acrobat® Reader®.
Office of Operations