From the afternoon of Wednesday, March 22, through midday on Thursday, four and a half inches of snow were dropped on McLean on the very first day of spring. The 4.1 inches of snow recorded at Ronald Reagan Washington National airport on March 22 were only topped by 5.3 inches of snow recorded in 1924.

“It looked like we were finally going to have warmer weather, and the just like that it was snowing,” sophomore Ben Plishker said. Wednesday’s snow prompted Fairfax County to close schools on both Wednesday and Thursday due to treacherous conditions from the storm. The storm was McLean’s biggest snow of a disappointing winter.

Washington D.C. recorded 7.8 inches of snow for the year, falling well under the 15.4 inch average from 1981-2018. McLean has fallen below average two consecutive years after experiencing just 3.4 inches of snow in 2016-17.

However, since the snow, temperatures have risen, showing signs that a delayed spring for the region has finally arrived after a bitter cold winter for the area. McLean is still looking for its first big snow since the two foot snow dropped on the area in 2016. A La Nina summer wind pattern was expected to provide the region with a big snow at some point throughout the winter, but a slightly warmer winter on average. However, the winter proved to be much colder than normal, with the temperatures hovering around freezing throughout, and provided zero snows of five or more inches.

Despite the lack of snow this year, Fairfax County close schools on a number of occasions, with reasons varying from the cold temperatures that prevented the buses to start to the high winds experienced every once in a while.