Thinking about snow.

(Snowwatch, hour 3. Few flakes. No accumulation.)

A couple weeks ago I passed the three-month anniversary of my move to DC. In fact, with the exception of a few days in Massachusetts, one trip to Bethesda, one trip to Chevy Chase, and spending Election Day in Virginia, I’ve spent the entirety of my last quarter of a year in the District-without-at-state. What can I say? Law school keeps you close to campus.

I’ve learned to love parts of DC and I have to admit the city is growing on me. I discovered U Street. I’m learning of places like Ben’s Chili Bowl, The Guitar Shop on Connecticut and 18th, the Hirshhorn and the Black Cat. I’ve found websites like Creative DC, Metro Music Scene, and The Wash Cycle (get it?). And I do enjoy being at the political epicenter – getting my groceries from the Watergate Safeway, running into Donald Rumsfeld on the street, hearing the Vice Presidential motorcade haul its way up to the Naval Observatory daily, walking by the White House at couple times a week, and so forth.

But, on the other hand, there are the little differences that make me a little nostalgic for Boston*. I miss the dirtiness of the T. I miss streets that have bends in them or are far too narrow for their own good. And, as strange as it sounds, I miss how bitter Boston is when it comes to winter. I keep trying to explain this feeling to people here, but it defies such description. There’s a strange harshness undercut with camaraderie to how people in Boston carry themselves in the winter. A, “Christ, can you believe this weather?” spirit that unifies Bostonians. We may not have it as bad as, say, a Buffalo, but the perpetual slush, dirty snow, and seasonal depression gives Bostonians a Zhivagian-constitution that strangely unifies our city. We carry about our business in direct defiance of Mother Nature’s will, and that brings us closer together. That or the Patriots, anyway.

I contrast this spirit with my first snow expereince here in the District. Alert DC, a government-run emergency notification service to which most people in DC subscribe, decided to issue an alert about the snowfall. If find this peculiar, since Alert DC is usually reserved for fairly substantial emergencies – sudden road closures, major accidents and fires, or extreme weather (case in point – the last alert previous to this one was for a tornado watch last weekend). This is the actual warning I received moments ago on my phone and in my email:

National Weather issued a scattered snow showers for the evening for the Metropolitan Region (District of Columbia).The snow showers are expected to progress south over Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia during the mid afternoon through evening hours. Local accumulations up to a half inch of snow fall are possible. Accumulations will be mainly on unpaved surfaces. If pavement temperatures fall below freezing more accumulation is expected.

Isn’t that cute? The city felt the need to warn people about snowfall. Not a lot of snowfall. Not epic snowstorms with high winds. Not a rapid-developing Noreaster with whiteout conditions impacting your evening commute. Half an inch on untreated surfaces. I can understand why they would warn us, for sure. I know people here aren’t as used to snow and therefore might forget how to drive when it’s slippery, or something along those lines. But I think about this, and I think about the horrible snowfalls or rain/snow mixes, or the weeks of sub-freezing temperatures we periodically get in Boston. And, strangely enough, I think I’m going to miss it.

Update: DCist this morning brings an interesting nightmare-scenario: a snowstorm on Inauguration Day. Can the District withstand the Snowbamapocalypse?

The Pixies – Winterlong (Neil Young cover)

* – heads up kids. I’ll be in Beantown for one day only next Tuesday, the 25th. Find me.