
 
 Map of D.C.’s snow emergency routes. (Screenshot: The Washington Post) 
 
 Since enacting a snow emergency Friday, the District has handed out tickets totaling more than $1 million in fines for violators of its parking ban. That translates to thousands of pink violation slips slid under windshield wipers, and hundreds of cars towed from city roadways. 
 
 As of Wednesday afternoon, D.C. had issued 5,284 snow emergency tickets — each at a cost of $250 — and towed 673 vehicles since the snow emergency went into effect at 9:30 a.m. Friday, according to D.C. Department of Public Works spokeswoman Linda P. Grant. In total, $1,321,000 in fines has been issued, in addition to $67,300 in towing fees at $100 apiece. 
 
 Flurries of $250 tickets hit preoccupied parkers who missed the snow emergency memo 
 
 DPW does not estimate the total cost of its fines because the tickets can be adjudicated and dismissed, Grant said. 
 
 The department’s snow emergency tally doesn’t include the abandoned cars spotted along District roadways in the aftermath of the storm. Grant said this week that 91 cars suffered that fate, adding another $9,100 in towing fees at $100 apiece. 
 
 The good news for drivers is some relief is coming; miles of roadway will open up for parking when the District’s snow emergency is lifted at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. 
 
 A map of D.C.’s snow emergency routes 
 
 Snow emergency rules aim to keep main arteries clear so plows can get through. D.C.’s snow emergency route includes oft-traveled lettered and numbered streets, and thoroughfares such as Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York avenues. 

 Many cars continue to be buried and sidewalks blocked by nearly two feet of snowfall in Columbia Heights, Jan. 26, 2016. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) 
 
 Editor's Note: This story has been updated.. 
 
 In the Blizzard of 2016, the District issued $1,369,750 in fines for cars left on snow emergency routes -- and towed almost 700 of them, the city said. 
 
 Cars were towed if they were parked or abandoned on the city's snow emergency routes (.pdf) during the District's 129-hour snow emergency. 
 
 Of the cars towed, 259 were relocated to side streets; those drivers face $250 parking tickets and a $100 tow fee. 
 
 Another 431 cars were impounded by private tow companies and were issued $250 parking tickets and the $100 tow fee, plus a $20 per day storage fee. 
 
 A few of those drivers caught a break this week: Thursday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said she would void any snow emergency parking tickets issued Friday. "I understand that some who received citations that Friday may not have known about the parking restriction, or may have been running errands in preparation for the storm," she said. 
 
 But those drivers still face the towing and storage fees. 
 
 It was important to move cars so that the city could plow streets, officials said. 
 
 "Don't park your car illegally, and that includes parking it kind of in the middle of the street next to the snow bank,"Bowser said Tuesday. Cars should be parked no more than 12 inches from a curb, not a snow bank, or drivers risk a ticket, she said. 
 
 This storm will easily rank among the region's five worst, Storm Team4 said, and the cleanup is taking days. Temperatures across the area are expected to drop again overnight, creating icy conditions on many of the region's roads Thursday.
– The District of Columbia stands to rake in more than $1 million in one week—all thanks to parking tickets issued during and after last weekend's major East Coast blizzard. In addition to the $1.3 million in tickets issued as of Wednesday afternoon, DC also hit drivers with more than $67,000 in towing fees, per the Washington Post. Officials say the tickets were necessary, since snow emergency routes had to be kept clear, and plows needed cars out of the way so they could clean the streets, NBC Washington reports. Drivers face $250 tickets, $100 towing charges, and $25-per-day holding fees if they don't come get their cars ASAP (though the Post notes they can fight to have the tickets dismissed). "Don't park your car illegally, and that includes parking it kind of in the middle of the street next to the snowbank," DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said Tuesday, per NBC. Some drivers, however, note they just couldn’t get their cars out from behind the huge piles of snow. "They gave me a $250 ticket just for being snowed in," one irritated driver tells the station.