Good morning, Friday! I'm in a better mood today, don't worry.
If you missed our item yesterday on post-snowstorm parking spot hogging—the one with that photograph of the handmade sign promising that anyone who parks in the signmaker's spot better have a "good spare"—check it out.
According to one commenter on that post, some genius was selling [...]

Good morning, City Desk! Are you in a bad mood today? I am! Marion Barry is!
Barry watchers, we know, are deep into reading the Bennett report and all of its revelations. There's a lot to sift through there, so we've done a lot of the heavy lifting for you: Read here, for instance, to find [...]

Like a lot of public-transportation-taking Washingtonians, Rusty McAndrew was running late this morning. He'd gotten on Metro at his neighborhood station in Columbia Heights, then transferred at Gallery Place for the Red Line. He called the salon where he works, VSL Hair Design in Dupont Circle, to let them know he was on his way. [...]

A man who called himself King John was on the Red Line on his way to the Medical Center Metro stop—headed to Briana's Hair Spa in Frederick, where he's a master barber. He was in the third car. It just stopped. "It was a slight bang," he said. "It wasn't major."
There was uncertainty, the flickering [...]

Metro has reported the derailment of a six-car Red Line train at the Farragut North station.
Metro's statement in full:
A six-car Red Line train headed in the direction of Shady Grove Metrorail station has reportedly derailed near the Farragut North Metrorail station. There are no reported injuries.
Metro officials and local first responders are at the scene [...]

Some people are uberprepared for snowstorms. You know the type: They have shovels of all shapes and sizes (including one of those weird-looking "back-friendly" ones that I can't imagine are any better for your back), their own supply of salt, probably even flares and a three-day supply of water. (I'm pretty sure my neighbor Warren [...]

City Desk did a survey of ANC commissioners this morning to find out: What does your street look like? Have you seen a plow? Are you snowed in?
William Schultheiss, of ANC 6A, who lives on F Street NE near 12th: His street is not clear. "They haven't done the side streets," he says. "They never [...]

Not to sound like Annie or anything, but: The sun will come out. Tomorrow.
Here's the forecast, according to our favorite weather folks over at Capital Weather Gang:
Strong winds continue for much of the day with gusts past 30 mph at times before diminishing late. Sunshine returns with highs probably near or a smidge above freezing [...]

Part of a canopy over a pedestrian bridge at American University—between Mary Graydon Center (MGC) and Battelle—collapsed this morning.
The Eagle reports:
About half the structure collapsed — and pieces were still falling. What was left standing was closest to Butler Pavilion.
After the collapse, few people were outside. No emergency vehicles were in the area either.
The bridge [...]

A snowball fight between George Washington and Georgetown universities has been pushed back two hours to 6 p.m. tonight.
GW senior Kyle Boyer made the challenge yesterday and helped organize the snowpelting extravaganza for Rose Park, around 26th and O Streets NW—neutral ground. For some reason, NBC4 is calling it the "Snowdome of Doom."
Will the Hippo [...]

The fight is on—again. Dupont Circle. Today. 2 p.m.
From the snowballers' Facebook site:
Washingtonians – you’ve seen the victory claims, heard the battle cries and watched the combatants charge toward the fountain… in fact, so did people all around the world, thanks to the huge media attention we generated! But which side actually won the day [...]

Dear Mayor Adrian Fenty,
You caved?! You closed the D.C. government? We had so much more faith in you than that.
Yes, the federal government is closed. City and county governments in Arlington, Alexandria, Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's, and everywhere else are closed. The D.C. public school system, and every other school system in the [...]

So far, we've heard of at least three snowball fights planned for tomorrow in the District. One near Randle Circle in Southeast (noon), another in a field near the New York Avenue Metro station in Northeast (1 p.m.), and a third on the National Mall (3 p.m.).
Given what happened during D.C.'s last big snow at [...]

Although D.C. may hold the Guinness World Record for Most Guns Brought to a Snowball Fight, someone else holds the one for the Largest Snowball Fight.
The record was owned until recently by a bunch of snowball pelters—3,745 of them, to be exact—at Michigan Tech, which had on the same day in 2006 earned itself two [...]

Good day, Winter Weather Panicsphere! Do you want to talk about something other than the impending Snowmaggedon/Snowpocalypse/SnOMG2? Well, too bad. Here's the day's roundup, by the numbers:
18-24: Number of inches of snow on the way for the region, according to the National Weather Service forecast
28: Record number of inches for  a D.C. snowstorm, from one [...]