I'm going to tell you what it's like in Washington DC when it snows in the winter.
Hello! Welcome to Trip Hacks DC. My name is Rob.
I'm a tour guide here in the nation's capital.
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afterwards, to see the tours that I offer. If you live in or have ever been to DC during a snowstorm
leave a comment on this video and let everyone know whether you loved it, hated it, or what you thought about it. otherwise,
let's get started...
Washington DC has four seasons and over the course of a winter we can usually count on seeing some snow. In a typical winter the
median snowfall is about 12 inches. Now, whether you think that's a lot or almost nothing
depends on exactly where you're coming from and what you're used to. In some parts of upstate New York or New England
12 inches is what you might get in a single day and in other parts of the country or the world
12 inches might be more than you get in an entire lifetime.
If you're trying to see snow or to avoid it, you'll want to pay the most attention to January and February,
even though it's definitely possible to see snowflakes in
December or March, the first two months of the year are
usually when we can most expect it. Of course the question that everybody wants to have answered is: what actually
happens in DC when it snows? I've classified our snowstorms into three types of events which i'm calling: code yellow, code
orange, and code red. Quick disclaimer that these are not official in any way, they're just a little something that I invented to try to
explain my own experience. So first let's talk about a code yellow
when snow sticks to the ground but there's really not that much. When this happens
kids in the suburbs will get a snow day or at least a delayed start and kids in the city will probably just have a
regular day. Federal office buildings will all be open and people will be expected to go into work just like any other day. For visitors
all of the major sites will be open with no noticeable
disruptions. If you're flying in or out of the city you might see a small delay but you shouldn't have to worry about
cancellations
unless there's a big storm in some other part of the country that's messing up the air system. This is the ideal snow scenario for
the typical visitor, because you get to see snow
play around in a little bit, but it's not going to mess up any of your plans. A more severe
snowstorm might be classified as a Code Orange.
In this scenario there's enough snow that kids in both the suburbs and the city are going to get a snow day there's also enough
snow on the ground that you'll see people out building snowmen on the National Mall and kids sledding down the hill
near the Capitol. Federal offices will be open but the workers will get what's called an unscheduled
telework or leave day, which means that they can either
go into work as usual, take a vacation day, or work from home if they have a laptop or materials with them. For visitors
most of the sites will still be open which includes
Smithsonian museums and places like the Capitol Visitor Center, but on a day like this it is always worth double-checking on
social media or by calling ahead before you make the trip over there. If you're flying into town you'll probably see some delays
but shouldn't be at a major risk of
cancellations. And the last snow scenario is my Code Red. This is the one that might actually
mess up your trip. Kids will get multiple snow days in a row and
federal office buildings will be completely closed, which means on these days even the adults get a snow day. If federal
offices are closed that means that the federal tourist sites will be closed as well. So no capital tours, no National Archives
no museums and no zoo. When the weather is this bad it can be hard to even get around at all.
Metro does run in the snow but the above-ground
sections will close if there's more than eight inches or if the tracks are really icy. The local DC government
does have snow plows and salt trucks
but not nearly enough of them to clear the entire city very quickly during a really big storm. It's important to appreciate that
cities buy enough snow removal infrastructure for their typical winter and even though, yes, we do get snow
remember that it's only a median of 12 inches every year, and that's over the course of the entire winter.
So one really big storm can be pretty crippling. Now with all of that said hopefully you're not feeling it too scared. If you want
to come to DC in the winter, just
come! We've had plenty of winters in recent memory where it basically didn't snow at all or we just had a few really
nice dustings. And yes there have been a few years when we got really socked by a big snowstorm, but you can't plan around those
and if you try you're basically just going to be writing off
entire parts of the year. Winter is actually a great time to come to DC
because tourism is really low so you get much smaller crowds at all of the major sites, just give yourself a little bit of flexibility
and everything should be fine. And that's it! Thank you for watching this video. If you found it helpful you can subscribe to this channel
by clicking on the Trip Hacks DC logo which is popping up right now at the bottom of the screen, and if you're coming to
DC and want to sign up for a Trip Hacks DC tour you can click on the Capitol dome on the left side of my
head, that'll send you over to www.triphacksdc.com where you can see all of the tours that I offer. Enjoy your trip!