by wildcherry on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 | Travel, Weather

WASHINGTON — Life in the nation’s capital ground to a halt Friday as steady snow fell, the beginning of a storm that forecasters said could be the biggest for the city in modern history.

A record 2 1/2 feet or more was predicted for Washington. More than 8 inches had already fallen in some D.C. areas by midnight and 10 inches was reported in Pittsburgh as the blizzard blew into the Mid-Atlantic region, reducing visibility. Big amounts of snow were expected throughout the region.

Authorities blamed the storm for hundreds of accidents and the deaths of father-son Samaritans in Virginia.

Several thousand people in West Virginia and Pennsylvania had lost electricity and more outages were expected. A hospital fire in D.C. sent about three dozen patients scurrying from their rooms to safety in a basement. The blaze started when a snow plow truck caught fire near the building, but no injuries were reported.

The region’s second snowstorm in less than two months could be “extremely dangerous,” the National Weather Service said. Meteorologist Kevin Whitt in Sterling, Va., said 4 inches had fallen in the Baltimore area and forecasters expect snowfall rates to increase overnight, up to 2 inches per hours, until daybreak.

Current snowfall totals have been estimated over 2 or 3 feet in some areas of Virginia and Washington, DC. The snow has created states of emergency in other states including New Jersey as well as Ohio, and yesterday saw numerous businesses and schools closed due to the inclement weather.

It all depends on the area of the country you are in right now.  If you’re adverse to bringing a yardstick outside right now to measure your snowfall amount, you can check out a site by the National Environmental Satellite, Date and Information Service, aka the “NESDIS”.  Their site will give you the latest snowfall totals nationally or by state.  Additionally, the site provides a look at the snowfall depths for the areas.  From this site you can get a decent indication of your current snowfall totals, but you may be seeing more as the weekend continues.

The NESDIS website with snowfall map is located here, with dropdown boxes to choose days/snow depth and your state.

Read More: Huffington Post

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