In the city of power suits and stilettos, the newest fashion must-haves were snow shoes and thermal coats as residents battled a record-breaking blizzard which in less than 24 hours dumped some 20 inches (50 centimeters) of snow on some parts.

A German woman was out for a walk in her snowshoes. "I was being paranoid staying at home," she said, casually sipping coffee. She was in full ski gear -- red ski jacket, black ski pants and a purple bobble hat.

"It's like being in the Alps," said the woman, a former ski instructor from Gottingen in Germany. She works for the IMF and asked not to be named.

"I have Alpine skis but the city is too flat. Yesterday I wanted to buy some cross-country skis but there were none left in the shops, just like all the shovels had sold out," she said.

Just behind her jogged up Alix Lawe, who works with the US Air Force and was out for her daily run. "It's so fun. I'm from Florida, I've never seen so much snow," she said gleefully.

Neither has Maika Ngong, 23, of the Maryland suburb of Bethesda, who was engaged in a futile effort to clear snow off her compact car.

"I'm not used to this," she laughed. When a reporter asked her why she was out in the blizzard of 2010 with no gloves, she tossed her hands in the air and replied: "I don't have any!"

With the city's famous tree-lined boulevards and monuments blanketed in snow, artists and photographers were out in force to capture a historic moment.

Joseph Bratcher from Indiana was photographing the trees that buckled under the weight of a thick layer of white.

"It's more snow than has ever fallen in DC since I moved here, six years ago," he said, snapping a photo of a tree which had toppled over in St Thomas Circle.

Visitor Ed Zuckermar came prepared when he flew into the capital from Washington state for a conference.

"I knew it was going to snow," he said, catching his breath after sliding his way on cross-country skis along one of the roads.

"I just hope it doesn't melt too soon."

Weather forecasters see little chance of that, as they warned that while the monster storm would finally blow itself out later Saturday after more than 24 hours, temperatures would remain cold.

Some people chose to ignore official advice to stay home and stay off the roads, and ran swiftly into trouble on the slippery streets.

Even the White House could not escape the fury of the blizzard, with men armed with shovels instead of sniper rifles throwing off snow from the roof. The roads leading to the nation's presidential seat though were being kept meticulously clear.

And with many Washingtonians determined to make the best of the snow, the hip Dupont Circle area was the place to visit, with some 5,000 people joining a massive snowball fight in the afternoon.

CBS news had set up its cameras slap bang in the middle of what is normally one of the most clogged traffic roundabouts in the city to capture the action.

Late Friday night, as a white blanket buried the US capital, several revelers were engaged in their own private snowball fight outside a bar on U Street, but they politely held their fire to let a pair of cross-country skiers schuss quietly past.

Jim Choukas-Bradley of Bethesda was out with his wife Melanie in the middle of the blizzard, cross-country skiing up Wisconsin Avenue, a thoroughfare normally clogged with cars but on this day as empty as a country road.

"We've been skiing on the streets here every year, every chance we can get, but this is a whole new level," Choukas-Bradley told AFP as he admired the snow-caked branches of trees along the roadways.

He said a huge snowfall like this one can help de-fang the bitter partisan political discourse that has taken place in recent months in the US capital.

"This snow can have a salutary effect on the venom that we're hearing these days," he said, "when you stop to see with your own eyes how beautiful the world really is."

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