During the winter of 2009/2010, much of the Washington metropolitan area experienced the snowiest such period on record, mainly due to some extraordinary snowfalls on December 19th, February 5-6th and February 10-11th.  Some of the various factors that led to conditions favorable for these storms' development will be examined, and compared to many other such storms that occurred in Washington's past.  Given the difficulty that winter storms sometimes present to forecasters, the numerical and human forecasts of the 2009/2010 storms will be evaluated and used to update our understanding of where we stand with their predictability. Finally, the impact of the snowstorms will be assessed through use of the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale.