Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

A House committee was supposed to learn today all about dangerous asteroids, meteors and space junk falling out of the sky. But a more immediate danger from above-heavy, wet, white stuff-caused a postponement.

The House was scheduled to vote to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year on Thursday, but scary TV weather maps awash in patches of vivid greens, reds, and purples convinced them to do it today so they could all flee town this afternoon.

Alabama demolished Notre Dame on the football field a few weeks ago, but the White House decided yesterday that the crimson tide was no match for up to a foot of snow that could accumulate in the D.C. area, and postponed the visit. The president will honor them another day.

Not long ago, when President Obama was new to Washington, he chided locals who stress over snow, using his hometown of Chicago as an example of a city that knows how to deal with bad weather.

"When it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things. We are going to have to apply some toughness to this town," the newly inaugurated Barack Obama said back in 2009.

Today, his White House canceled its indoor daily briefing because of snow.