SUPER BOWL XXVI / WASHINGTON REDSKINS 37, BUFFALO BILLS 24 : The Party Begins at Halftime : Washington: The streets start to fill early, but a snowstorm keeps the celebration less than in 1988.

Washingtonians started to spill into the streets to hail the Super Bowl champion Redskins when their team led, 17-0, at halftime.

That was only a prelude, however, to the massive celebration that erupted once Washington had actually wrapped up its third Super Bowl championship in 10 years by beating Buffalo, 37-24.

“It was just a matter of time,” said 17-year-old Traci Sutton of suburban Bethesda, Md. “There was no doubt that our hometown Redskins would bring the trophy back to Washington. The last time the team won, I was too young to enjoy it. But this, this is the greatest feeling that I’ve ever had in my life to know that my hometown team is the champion of the National Football League.”

Immediately after the game, hundreds rushed from Washington bars into the streets, where they shouted and waved and ran up and down the streets, some dodging in and out of traffic in dangerous exuberance.

Car horns quickly filled the air in neighborhoods thick with night spots and, within minutes, had spilled over into quieter areas of the city.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s delegate to Congress, invited everyone in the city to a Super Bowl party at a city civic center on Capitol Hill and hundreds took her up on the offer. “There was no doubt about the outcome,” Norton said. “Being a native Washingtonian, this Super Bowl victory makes me so proud that I can barely express my happiness.”

There were standing-room-only crowds at most bars and restaurants along Pennsylvania Avenue near the Capitol, and many establishments turned customers away because of warnings against overcrowding by police.

“The Redskins are what brings this area together,” said Bruce Monroe, 36, a congressional staffer. “There is so much talk about Washington being the murder capital of the United States, about how ineffective the federal government is and the other things that go toward the bad image the city has. But the Redskins are a matter of civic pride that we can all rally around.”

Some of the enthusiasm in the nightclub sections of Georgetown was tempered when authorities strictly enforced laws barring alcohol being taken outside bars and restaurants.

Others had their spirits dampened when they found that their cars, even though parked legally, had been towed by police to holding areas for safekeeping against damage from overly enthusiastic revelers.

One policewoman said that, while she was a lifelong fan and could understand the enthusiasm of fans, it was still her job to enforce the laws. The officer, who asked that her name not be used, said the celebration, while vigorous, did not match the last time Washington won the Super Bowl, in 1988.

“This is tame compared to when I was last out here for a celebration like this,” she said. “But then again I guess the weather may have been a large factor in keeping people away from the area.”

The Washington area received its first snowfall of the winter 24 hours before the Redskin victory. Authorities said the snow, coupled with temperatures in the teens, might have contributed to many people deciding not to venture out of their homes to celebrate.