MoCo, WMATA, Ride On slow to recover from blizzard

Grey lines indicate streets
where plowing has yet
to begin; map image from
7:20 AM today

A snow emergency remains in effect as Montgomery County and WMATA continue to struggle in recovering from Winter Storm Jonas. Montgomery County Public Schools are closed again today, and County snow plow crews are now tackling neighborhood streets.

According to the County snow operations map, some neighborhoods' streets remain untouched 59 hours after the snow ended. Spring Hill, Green Acres, Springfield, Wood Acres, Rock Creek Palisades, Randolph Hills, Stoneybrook Estates, and parts of Aspen Hill are among the "children of a lesser god."

The crews are working hard, but it appears the County did not procure enough of them in advance, despite the unusual advance notice of this weather event.

The other gaffe today is the County's Ride On bus service. Only Routes 1, 5, 8, 15, 16, 17, 23, 30, 34, 43, 46, 47, 55, 56, 59, 83, 100 will operate today, and - get this - only from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM. What is this, just for senior citizens or something?! Unplowed neighborhood roads + no rush hour Ride On feeder buses = residents unable to get to work today.

Apparently, just because elected officials can declare themselves closed for a day off, they've lost touch with the fact that most of their constituents lack such authority. At last check, janitors can't telework. The failure to get the basic emergency transit service up and running is costing people pay, and possibly their jobs.

Unbelievably, once again there is no T2 Metrobus service along the River Road corridor. When you need transit in Montgomery County, it's just not there for you, folks. You can't rely on it.

Metrorail is operating with service on all lines except the Orange Line between Vienna & Ballston, and the Silver Line.

The Bethesda Circulator will not run today.

Tea Do to open this week in Rockville

The long-delayed opening of Tea Do is finally upon us. A casual Japanese eatery in addition to an Asian boba (bubble) tea shop, Tea Do is located at 838 Rockville Pike.

Their soft opening is scheduled to begin tomorrow, Tuesday, January 26. Tea Do's official grand opening will be Thursday, January 28, at 11:00 AM. The owners say the shop will stay open until midnight on Thursday.

Get a preview of their menu here.

Rockville snow and power outage update #WinterStormJonas #Jonas #Blizzard2016

Just before 1:00 AM there was a power outage near Shady Grove Road near King Farm and Interstate 270. Five customers were affected, but Pepco reports service has now been restored.

The worst of the storm is just arriving in the area. Wind gusts are projected to be 45-65 MPH through 1:00 PM today. Winds are currently 5 MPH in Rockville.

Snow accumulation around Rockville ranges from 4.8-5.1" at last report.

Current temperatures around Rockville:

Woodley Gardens: 20.8°F

Watts Branch Parkway: 20.8°

Twinbrook: 21.9°

Winter Storm Jonas update for Rockville

Rockville Storm Center

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has declared a State of Emergency, as Winter Storm Jonas approaches the D.C. metro area. The temperature is currently 21 degrees F. A Blizzard Warning will be in effect beginning at 3:00 PM this afternoon.

Expect the snow to begin between noon and 1:00 PM today, and to intensify by mid-afternoon. Blizzard conditions are predicted to start around mid-evening, and winds will increase dramatically to 25-35 MPH, with dangerous gusts up to 60 MPH. That almost guarantees power outages in the area.

Accumulations of at least 2 feet are expected (24-30" is the latest National Weather Service prediction), with the possibility of setting a new record for the area. Temperatures overnight will be in the mid-20s, but feel far colder with the Arctic wind gusts. Whiteout conditions are expected from Friday night through Saturday.

Montgomery County public parking lots and garages will be FREE starting today at noon, through 9:00 AM on Monday, January 25. If you're willing to gamble that there will be any kind of auto travel possible by Monday morning, you could theoretically stash your car in a public garage and avoid having to dig it out. Street meters won't be free, however. Watch to make sure you are not parked along a snow emergency route.

Montgomery County Public Schools are closed. It is not recommended anyone be out on the roads once the storm gets fully underway.

Stay tuned here on the blog, and on Twitter 24/7 @RockvilleNights throughout the storm for updates and information.

MoCo snow fiasco (Photos)

A minimal snowstorm downplayed by forecasters turned into a major traffic disaster last night, as Montgomery County and the state of Maryland failed to pretreat roadways. The result? A six-car pileup in front of Pyle Middle School in Bethesda, dozens of fender benders, stuck and abandoned cars, drivers running out of gas on the Capital Beltway, and more than a few pedestrian wipeouts.

Traffic on the Beltway
after midnight

"I'm sleeping on the couch at work," tweeted
Fresh 94.7 FM DJ Dana McKay

"Good lord what a cluster,"
@jose3030 tweeted

By early this morning, the Beltway was in catastrophic shape, entirely shut down near the I-270 Spur in Bethesda. Drivers were pulling over to sleep in their cars, and Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesperson Pete Piringer reported that even fire vehicles were stuck in places for hours.

Six-car Pyle-up by
Pyle Middle School

Twitter user Justin Fidler reported from the scene that there were no injuries in the 6-car "Pyle-up" in front of the school, but that Wilson Lane was closed in both directions as firefighters awaited the arrival of a salt truck.

Montgomery County's storm operations center announced it was activated - two hours after the storm hit and the chaos began. The County Department of Highway Services attempted to awaken members of the Montgomery County Council, who were asleep at the switch during the entire storm. Only Councilmembers Roger Berliner, Sid Katz and Nancy Navarro responded by retweeting the DHS message regarding current operations late Wednesday evening.

MoCo Highway Services tries
to awaken Montgomery County
Councilmembers...

...who were largely asleep
at the switch during the storm

African-American mayors of
Washington take a lot of heat
for snow disasters; why don't white
leaders in MoCo get bad local press?

Many drivers were asking what had gone wrong, and took to social media to rip local authorities for their negligence. The Montgomery County Civic Federation asked MoCo transportation officials why the County and State continue to be unable to coordinate snow operations within the County.

"Pitiful job!" in Bethesda

Rockville to Silver Spring in
3.5 hours

Aspen Hill was "bad"

"Not one plow" in Wheaton

Failure to pretreat all state and most County roads not only created terrible driving conditions, but also made it difficult for snowplows and salt trucks to clear the hard sheet on roads by this morning's rush hour. In the worst-case scenario, remnants of this small storm could remain in many spots as a hard ice foundation, soon to be piled high with snow on top when Winter Storm Jonas arrives tomorrow.

Will anyone among Montgomery County's "leadership" be held accountable for the disastrous storm response, property damage and injuries? Not by the Washington Post. The newspaper's initial story on storm response is critical of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, but mysteriously passes on assigning similar blame to elected officials here in Montgomery County. Here we go again. The disasters will continue until there are consequences at the ballot box.

East Rockville sewer improvements scheduled to begin

Pipes and manholes along several streets in East Rockville will be replaced starting this month. The work is expected to begin in Maryvale Park near Taylor Avenue, and end at the intersection of East
Middle Lane and Monroe Street. Additional streets that will be affected are Hungerford Drive, Park
Road, North Stonestreet Avenue, Grandin Avenue, Highland Avenue, South Horners
Lane, Seth Place, and Charles Street.

If you are in that area, you can expect temporary road closures, on-street parking restrictions and
construction noise. But water service will not be affected.

The project is expected to be completed in about a year, with each of the above streets requiring four to eight weeks of work apiece.

Public meeting tonight on Falls Road shared-use path plans in Rockville

The City of Rockville is proposing
to extend this path on Falls Road

A public open house will be held tonight to unveil a design proposal for extending the shared-use path on Falls Road. The path would provide a new pedestrian and cycling connection between Dunster Road and Kimblewick Road.

City staff have reviewed the alignment proposed by a design consultant, and tonight will get public feedback on the proposed design.

The meeting will be held at the St. Raphael's Church Library, at 1513 Dunster Road, at 7:00 PM tonight, January 19, 2016.