Time to cool down ... Washington residents let loose with snowball fight on National Mall

America’s capital closes out eventful month with snowball fight on National Mall

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  A person cycles through the Times Square during a snow storm, amid the coronavirus disease pandemic, in the Manhattan borough of New York City on February 1, 2021. Reuters

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  A snowplough removes snow from the Times Square during a snow storm, amid the coronavirus disease pandemic, in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Reuters

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  A couple walks on the Brooklyn Bridge on Monday, February 1, 2021. A winter snowstorm walloped the Eastern US on Monday. AP

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  People walk along a snow covered street as snow falls in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. AFP

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  Snow covers a social distancing bubble dining tent outside a restaurant in New York. Bloomberg

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  A delivery person rides a bicycle as snow falls in New York. Bloomberg

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  An empty outdoor dining area of a restaurant during a snow storm in New York. Bloomberg

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  A fire truck drives along a snow covered road during a Nor'Easter snow storm in Guttenberg, New Jersey. AFP

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  A double parked car waits covered in snow in the Brooklyn borough. New York City and much of the Northeast is being hit by a major winter storm that is expected to bring as much as two feet of snow when done sometime Tuesday morning. Schools, public transportation and vaccine centers across the region are being impacted by the storm. AFP

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  A National Guard soldier stands his post in front of the US Capitol, on Monday, February 1, 2021, in Washington. AP

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  A child is pulled on a sled along 14th Street in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a State of Emergency and MTA officials announced that above-ground subway service would be suspended. AFP

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  Workers clear snow off a subway station platform in Brooklyn. AFP

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  A resident clears snow from his car in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on February 1, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. More than a foot of snow fell in some areas of the city during a winter storm that lasted most of the past weekend. AFP

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  A masked snowman sits on the National Mall in Washington, DC. AFP

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  A couple throw snowballs in Washington, DC. Bloomberg

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  People play with snow as snow begins to fall in Times Square during a snow storm in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Reuters

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  A snowman is seen on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC. AFP

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  A powerful winter storm is set to dump feet of snow along a stretch of the US east coast including New York City after blanketing the nation's capital. AFP

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  A dog sits in Times Square during a winter storm in New York City. AFP

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  A snowkiting sail hangs in the air over Medicine Lake in Plymouth, Minnesota.AFP

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  Snowkiting is a growing sport, as people seek new outdoor activities in the winter. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images/AFP

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  Snowkiting is a growing sport, as people seek new outdoor activities in the winter. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images/AFP

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  Mike Kratochwill flies through the air while snowkiting on Lake Minnetonka. AFP

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  Snowkiting is a growing sport, as people seek new outdoor activities in the winter. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images/AFP

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  Snowkiting is a growing sport, as people seek new outdoor activities in the winter. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images/AFP

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  Teenagers play with hail on the beach following winter storms that blanketed the region with rain, snow, and hail in Manhattan Beach, California. AFP

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  People play with hail on the beach following winter storms that blanketed the region with rain, snow, and hail in Manhattan Beach, California. AFP

It has been an eventful month in the US capital, with a pandemic, a failed insurrection, an impeachment and a heavily militarised inauguration.

But residents of Washington DC are determined to end January on a high note.

Several hundred masked revellers staged a snowball fight on Sunday at the National Mall, in between the US Capitol and the Washington monument.

Two weeks ago, this area was inaccessible for President Joe Biden’s inauguration as more than 25,000 National Guard troops and a metal fence cordoned off the public’s access to the mall and most of downtown Washington.

There was no sign of the remaining troops who are due to stay in the city until the end of March, and the fence blocking off access to the mall has come down.

The festive atmosphere marked a welcome departure from the dark events of the past month, making it easy to forget that a violent mob marched down that very spot to storm the Capitol building weeks earlier.

The organiser, an informal Facebook group called the Washington DC Snowball Fight Association, has put together major snowball fights throughout the city in other years.

But Sunday’s storm was the first major snowfall in the capital in two years, allowing the group to again pop into action.

At the time of the fight, the mall was blanketed in an estimated five to eight centimetres of snow.

Weather forecasters predict that the total snowfall will range between 10cm and 20cm in the next two days, although it will probably fall on the lower end of that estimate.