More snow is headed for beleaguered capital

Reporting from Washington — 

Still digging out Monday from a historic weekend snowstorm that shut down federal offices and schools, the nation’s capital was bracing for yet another wallop of winter weather that could dump up to 20 inches of snow by Wednesday.

This comes on top of roughly two feet that landed over the weekend, prompting locals to dub the scene “snowmageddon” and “snowpocalypse.”

. Washington, Virginia and Maryland have declared emergencies, allowing officials to mobilize the National Guard to help cope with the unprecedented snowfall. Thousands were still without power Monday after electrical lines were snapped by falling trees and branches or the weight of snow.

Schools in Virginia’s Loudoun County will remain closed for the rest of the week, reopening next Tuesday, after the Presidents Day holiday. Officials warned that it could take until at least the weekend before normalcy is restored.

By Monday, the charming sight of cross-country skiers gliding around monuments and people throwing snowballs had given way to images of people huddled next to fireplaces or hunched over snow shovels.

The snowbound U.S. Senate met for a few minutes Monday for the express purpose of resolving to recess for 24 hours. Capital traffic was light Monday because about 230,000 federal employees stayed home. Most roads were only partially cleared, making for treacherous driving conditions.

“It is a huge challenge to get the interstates cleared before the next storm on Tuesday,” said Joan Morris, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation. “Especially when we’ve also got 9,000 miles of subdivision roads.”

Metro, a commuting lifeline for many in the Washington area, stopped rail service to most suburbs and sharply curtailed bus service.

Tami Heinz, a Manassas, Va., resident who drove out on an errand, said her car was stuck once in the slush before it broke free. “I thought the main roads would have at least been fully cleared,” Heinz said. “But only one lane was cleared on the three-lane M28.”

Pepco, the dominant utility company in the region, was working to restore power to as many as 34,000 customers, mostly in suburban Montgomery County in Maryland. Pepco said it expects service to be completely restored in Montgomery by the end of the week, but most customers should be back in service by late Tuesday.

There is a strong indication that the Tuesday storm would be stronger in the Baltimore area since it would probably be centered further up the coast, said Howard Silverman, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

A limited number of flights had taken off by mid-day from Washington-area airports. At Reagan National Airport, where flights had resumed after more than two days, the “on time” flights on the departure board started to outnumber the canceled ones by mid-afternoon. But many people still didn’t know when they might get out.

clement.tan@latimes.com

The Associated Press contributed to this article.