It's February in NoVA. Likely freezing and/or slushy :( I need this date for my event calendar, so let's hope the roads are clear enough that we can warm up together :)
Come one, come all and share your winter-caching stories and your trackables. Whether you are cold or wet or not, 2026 is the 250th anniversary of US independence in 1776 so that's be the theme for this year. Get together in the warmth and talk about your winter caching fun. We will be *indoors*.
Family, friends, neighbors, kids, visiting cachers, and the geo-curious welcome. Come for the duration or just pop in.
Eat/drink/don't, your call. No purchase necessary but BYO$ for anything you do want and please don't bring outside food/drinks.
Hopefully the roads won't be too icy (I still remember the winter we had a ton of ice storms*). The event will be ON unless the roads are impassible.
Location is a shared space for Old Town Coffee & Moo Thru Ice Cream. Verbal permission from very friendly coffee-side manager Frank.
Coffee place has various drinks including tea and some light food items and is open early morning through mid-late afternoon. Ice cream side will NOT be open yet.
Plenty of free parking in front or on the side. There's a ramp on the side of the building.
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* My memory has it as 17 ice storms that winter; weather site says closer to a dozen:
https://www.weather.gov/lwx/winter_DC-Winters
January-February, 1994: These two months saw an unusual assault of ice storms on the Washington area. It began in mid January with an arctic blast that sent temperatures below zero over northern Virginia and western and central Maryland for a couple of mornings. The sudden cold wave shot up the use of electricity and natural gas. The effect was over such a large portion of the Eastern US that the power companies went into rolling black outs so as not to lose the grid entirely and requested people to conserve energy.
Between mid January and mid February, about a dozen storms hit dropping snow, sleet, and freezing rain. The most devastating storm struck February 10-11 leaving a coat of ice, one to three inches thick, from freezing rain and sleet! The hardest hit was an area from near Fredericksburg across southern Maryland and Annapolis. Some counties lost 10 percent of their trees from the heavy ice. Roads were blocked and impassable. Electric and phone lines were down with as much as 90 percent of the area's people without power. Even with help from out-of-state utility companies, many people were without power for a week. A presidential disaster declaration was given. Damages were estimated at near 100 million dollars for the region. There were numerous injuries from automobile accidents and people falling on ice. It was likely the iciest winter the Washington area has ever seen.