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Fairfax County residents face another day of winter disruptions Tuesday as suspended trash service, airport delays and hazardous roads linger after Winter Storm Fern.
Trash, recycling and special pickups were canceled for both Monday, Jan. 26, and Tuesday, Jan. 27, because of the weather. County customers with Monday or Tuesday collection schedules must wait until Feb. 2 or Feb. 3 for service.
The storm also complicated travel across Northern Virginia. A tractor-trailer driver lost control on westbound Interstate 495 near Huntington around 4:08 p.m. Monday, causing the truck to jackknife and strike an SUV, according to Virginia State Police. The crash backed up traffic during the afternoon rush.
At Dulles International Airport, passengers remained hopeful that flights would depart Monday despite the weekend’s snow and sleet and the continuing severe cold. One business traveler bound for Los Angeles had made several trips back and forth to Dulles since Saturday.
In other transportation news, the National Transportation Safety Board is expected Tuesday to discuss the factors behind the Jan. 29, 2025, collision between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter over the Potomac River. Investigators are unlikely to identify one single cause because numerous failures contributed to the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster since 2001.
A drunk driver who caused a fatal head-on collision on George Washington Memorial Parkway was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter. The driver had cocaine and alcohol in his system when he traveled the wrong way near Roosevelt Island at 80 mph on Jan. 1, 2025, striking and killing a woman.
Fairfax County Public Schools is also installing a new Raptor emergency management system in every school building. The system is intended to speed and coordinate emergency responses by improving communication among schools, security personnel, first responders and law enforcement.
In Richmond, Gov. Abigail Spanberger is confronting the limits of state authority over federal immigration enforcement. After becoming Virginia’s 75th governor on Jan. 17, she rescinded an executive order instructing state and local agencies to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The action did not end agreements already in place.
Virginia Democrats, now controlling the governor’s office and both chambers of the General Assembly, are also turning their campaign promises on affordability toward housing legislation. Their challenge will be passing measures that produce meaningful reductions in housing costs.
Tuesday’s forecast calls for sunshine and a high near 26 degrees, with wind chills falling as low as 6 below zero. Westerly winds of 5 to 8 mph will shift south during the afternoon. The night will be partly cloudy with a low around 8 and wind chills possibly reaching 1 below zero as northwest winds blow at 3 to 7 mph.