Eighth Road South looking east from Buchanan toward Wakefield.
The photo at the top is of the Knickerbocker snow, taken in 1922 by Mildred Handy.
The second one was taken on January 10, 1996.

and here is another, from the 20.5 inch snow of December, 2009.



and our most recent "two foot" snow in February 2010 was measured at
17.8 inches at Reagan National Airport, but 32 inches at Dulles. It
actually put 18 to 20 inches of heavy snow on Barcroft's sidewalks.
Note the mailbox on the right in the photos above and below.

Our Blizzards

• The Knickerbocker Snow of January 27-29, 1922
  The biggest of all at 28 inches. It collapsed the roof of Crandall's Knickerbocker Theater in DC, with terrible loss of life. Here is a film clip of the aftermath. In our neighborhood, "the men of Barcroft" built a plow with lumber contributed by Mr. Kirchner and cleared the street using horses lent by Mr. Palmer. School was cancelled for lack of heating coal. The BSCL passed a resolution thanking those who helped at its meeting on February 2.

• The President's Day Snow of 1979, February 18-19, 1979
  We got 18.7 inches that time. One Barcrofter who had come in more than a little under the weather the night before called the police that morning and reported his car had been stolen. The police thought that was highly improbable, and persuaded him to go out and check, whereupon he found his car in a snowbank where he had been unable to get it into his driveway the night before. (As we said, he was more than a little under the weather.)

• The Blizzard of 1983, February 11, 1983.
  We got 16.6 inches.

• The Blizzard of 1996.
  Initially about 16 inches in Barcroft, increasing to 24 inches (officially 23.8 at National Airport) with much bigger drifts in some places. Barcroft School was closed for a week. Under the circumstances the County did a nice job of keeping our streets at least marginally passable. Barcrofters helped neighbors who needed help to shovel out, held block potlucks, skied in the streets and on the W&OD trail, 4-wheeled mothers delivering babies to the hospital, shoveled incessantly, nursed sore backs and generally developed cabin fever.

The 21st Century has already brought two notable blizzards

• The blizzard of 2009
  Officially 20.5 inches of snow that began the evening of December 18, cutting short a lot of Christmas shopping. Some members of the Friendship Club had a bonfire in the middle of the cul-de-sac at the bottom of Abingdon, with Christmas music playing. The Cackley Family and friends did their annual caroling. The Barcroft Snow Brigade's two County-supplied neighborhood snowblowers ran incessantly.
  
  
• The blizzard of 2010
  On February 5 and 6 we got 18 to 20 inches. The official depth at Reagan National Airport was 17.8 inches. It drifted much deeper in some back yards. The classic 8th Road photo above was taken on February 7, the day after the snow ended, and the depth on 8th Road was about 18 inches. In the dip on 9th St. South between Buchanan and Wakefield it got up 20 inches. The heavy snow caused a lot of evergreen tree and bush damage, breaking limbs on many old Magnolias. But for play or for snow art, it was great:
  
  

  For the Harris girls it was ideal for a snow tunnel.
  
  
  

  Cesar Antezna's snow sculpture at 4745 6th St S.
  
  
  

  And more snow fell just a few days later on February 10, accompanied by windy conditions that filled in the sidewalk trenches we had cleared. Back to the snow shovels! We have reached a new record for a winter total.
  
  
  

  Here is a page on The Barcroft Snow Brigade.

This page was revised on: July 21, 2011.