There is a big winter snow storm on the way to the mid-Atlantic region (Washington DC and surroundings) that will start on Friday and bring as much as two feet of snow to an area that usually measures its snow in inches, not feet. Already on Wednesday night, an unexpected inch of snow turned the freeways around the city into a skating rink, and some commuters reported spending 6 or 7 hours in their cars before reaching their homes. The problem with snowfall that had not been forecast, is that salting of the road surfaces was not done – and then the roads and freeways also become completely clogged up with slow moving traffic. So there is no way to react and remedy the situation after that, either.