An inch or two that would not raise an eyebrow in Moscow (or New England) throws the capital of the free world into delirium tremens. Mountains of half-cleared snow and rivers of slush have turned Washington’s streets into a cross-country course from the Winter Olympics.The first sensation was utterly different. That Sunday morning, the snow was therapeutic, a humbling reassurance that there was an alternative to the frenetic pace of American life. Philadelphia’s 31 inches between Sunday and Monday was the largest 24-hour snowfall in its history. New York’s 22 inches was its third largest (100 million tons fell on the city, according to CNN) It was the third or fourth highest here in the capital.

The 20-hour shutdown of Boston airport was the longest since 1978 Economic losses are climbing by billions of dollars. At least 100 have died as a result of the snow.Washington is peculiarly ill-equipped for such an ordeal. Come the first soft flakes of winter, the city fathers handle snow with the same calm and competence that British Rail brings to its commuter services. By the end, in my corner of the city, 23 inches had fallen – almost two feet of the stuff, and more where it had been piled up by gusts of 35mph Not for an instant did it stop, for 36 hours.

Should the second storm, unfolding as I write, live up to billing, all records could be eclipsed, including that of 28 January 1772, when George Washington measured three feet of snow on the ground at his Mount Vernon estate.Even if this is not the storm of the century already, it’s close. It turns roads and pavements into skating rinks and causes power failures by the score. Thus far, the Blizzard of ‘96 has generated only fine powdery snow. But never, even during the four years I lived in Moscow, have I seen so much of it in a single helping.It started to fall around midnight on Saturday. It continued, soft and silent as a veil, through Sunday and half of Monday.