Last night's quick storm was anything but dull. It had a little something for everyone. The snow lovers got their fix, although not as much as if there had been no mixing of sleet and freezing rain. The snow haters got a storm which had the decency to arrive at night and depart almost in time for the morning rush.



Thanks to Camden for pulling an all-nighter. Here at Afternoon Blog Central, we're not as young as we used to be, so we turned in shortly after the first flakes around 1:00 and missed the whole thing. I'm especially sorry to have missed the thundersnow. Despite 9 winters in the Hudson Valley and a couple in Boston, my only recollection of thundersnow was in the Presidents' Day storm of 1979 right here in the DC area. It was spectacular: the whole works, including lightning and snow so thick it seemed to fill the air.



A check of the initial reports shows an official snow total of 1.6", ranging up to 3.5" in the immediate northern and western suburbs and lower to the south and east. Here at the Afternoon Update in west-central Montgomery County, we had 2¼" of crunchy snow and ice. Overall, this was an excellent result for the forecast from the collective wisdom of the CapitalWeather team in a very tricky situation. Please let us know how much you received.



Tonight and Tomorrow



Fortunately for everyone's nerves, the next few days look a lot quieter. After lows tonight in the mid 20s in the city and upper teens in the colder 'burbs, tomorrow will be partly cloudy with highs around 41.



Epsilon, RIP



A quick review of the tropics for old times' sake reveals that "General Franco is still dead!"



Climate Conference



Today is the last day of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Montreal. If this 2-week event has been covered at all by the local MSM Paper of Record with anything other than reprints of wire-service stories, someone please let me know. The RealClimate blog reports that the N.Y. Times has been podcasting from the conference, and it's also being blogged by attendees. Former President Bill Clinton was scheduled to speak today.



The Afternoon Update will be taking a few days off next week. Please behave yourselves in the meantime, and remember Momma Nature's Rule #1 of Snow Day Wishcasting: "Do your homework!"