The weekend winter storm wasn’t the “Big One,” but it did wallop the D.C. area with more than half a foot of snow and ice. And one lucky resident scored a cool prize by guessing the exact amount.
WTOP listener Joanna D. from Rockville, Maryland, correctly guessed Reagan National Airport’s 6.9 inch snow total as part of WTOP’s Snowzilla 2026 Contest. Joanna wins her own D.C. Snowzilla Gauge, custom made by WTOP Traffic Reporter Dave Dildine.
Joanna told WTOP she was “quite excited” to win the prize, because “I was sure you would be inundated with entries and I had such a small chance.”
The extra-wide measuring board lists all of the District’s top snowstorms — like the Megalopolitan Snowstorm of 1983, the two Presidents Day snowstorms and the Blizzard of 1996. The largest snowstorm of all-time, the Knickerbocker Storm, is listed at the top of the board at the 28 inch mark.
The gauge is an unofficial way to compare current snow depth to snow totals from the most memorable and infamous D.C. snowstorms.
“The idea is simple but the motivation was perspective … the key to understanding the present is knowing the past. Whether I’m doing traffic or weather, I always try to make that a cornerstone. Crashes, disabled vehicles — they number in the hundreds everyday, snow happens every winter,” Dildine said.
“But ‘the big ones,’ those are the things we can use to reset our focus and maybe better react in the present.”
The contest tasked WTOP listeners with predicting the final tally in tenths of an inch. The guesses ranged from 0 to 18.5 inches. Seven people submitted 8.5 inches, the most common guess. The median guess was 9.3 inches and the average was 10.2 inches.
Joanna was the only person to correctly guess 6.9 inches.
It may come as no surprise that she used to work for the National Weather Service.
“I spent 35 years with the NWS which was a very satisfying career. I spent time working at what was then NMC and finished up in the Office of Hydrology. I retired <<mumble>> years ago but continue to watch the weather with great interest,” she told WTOP via email.
But her prediction was less than scientific, she said: “I saw that 6 inches was sort of in the range of possibilities and I tossed a die to get the tenths. Not terribly scientific.”
The contest closed at 5 p.m. on Friday when snowfall forecasts were slightly higher. The precipitation fell as heavy sleet most of Sunday, which lowered the totals. Nonetheless, anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of snow and sleet blanketed the greater D.C. area.
The National Weather Service measures snow and sleet as one. Sleet pellets are snowflakes that melt then refreeze before reaching the ground. It accumulates at a slower rate compared to fluffy snow.