Politics & Government

Power, Road Crews Prep for Possible Snow; Arlington Schools Monitoring Forecast

Dominion Power is urging their customers to be prepared with food and an emergency plan.

Update (6:02 p.m.): Arlington County crews spent Wednesday afternoon and evening putting spreaders on vehicles and expected to complete that work by Thursday morning, according to the Department of Environmental Services.

"Our hard-working crews are ready for a snow event as well. We will adjust our plans depending on a more accurate forecast from regional outlets and our weather service this evening and again tomorrow morning," according to county spokeswoman Jennifer K. Smith.

Federal agencies in the Washington area will be open Thursday, though employees have been given the option to use unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework.

Find out what's happening in Arlingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Original story (4:24 p.m.): With a National Weather Service winter storm watch in place for Thursday morning for Northern Virginia, personnel at Dominion Power, Arlington Public Schools and the Virginia Department of Transportation have their eyes glued to the weather forecasts.

Le-Ha Anderson, a Dominion Power spokeswoman, said the company is making sure its trucks are gassed up and ready to respond if any power outages are reported. The utility company has a team of meteorologists who are tracking the storm, she said.

Find out what's happening in Arlingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Wet snow with some wind could cause some power outages,” Anderson said. “We do urge our customers to be prepared with an emergency plan with phone numbers and nonperishable food just in case there are some outages.”

As the forecast changes, VDOT will have 650 trucks ready to roll out Thursday morning to pre-treat interstates in Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun and Prince William counties, agency spokeswoman Jenny McCord said. If the forecast changes and more snow hits the region, McCord said VDOT is prepared to bring in extra manpower.

Arlington Public Schools is monitoring weather forecasts and will make a decision about operations on Thursday, spokesman Frank Bellavia said in an email.

If the snow causes power outages, you can click here to view the outage map on Dominion Power’s website or you can go to Dom.com on your cell phones and tablets.

For road updates from VDOT Thursday, click here.

Arlington Patch Editor Jason Spencer contributed to this report.


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