Compared to the rest of the commonwealth, western Prince William County residents got lucky.

While over 14 inches of snow pelted Norfolk, and other areas up the Northern Neck received a foot or more also, the local area only had to deal with what amounted to a heavy dusting.

An unofficial measurement in Manassas put the snow total between 0.5-1 inch. Forecasts for the area called for up to 4 inches of snow, though some, such as Accuweather.com, predicted 1.1 inches.

Virginia Department of Transportation spokesperson Joan Morris said that 1,700 trucks were "ready to go" in Northern Virginia at a cost of likely more than $1 million. The snow removal budget for the Northern Virginia sector of VDOT is $33 million. The state government spent about $250 million statewide cleaning up snow throughout the commonwealth last winter.

"We knew a big storm was coming," said said, adding that, "Northern Virginia dodged the bullet."

VDOT did not have to dispatch any of the trucks for clean up, she said, and the department began "demobilizing" its units Sunday night, finishing up around 10 a.m. Monday.

"Overall, relatively, it's been kind of quiet, thankfully for us," said Bob Spieldenner, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. "We didn't see too many large power outages."

Spieldenner said the state government pre-positioned about 100 National Guard soldiers in the southeastern part of the commonwealth and sent more over to the Eastern Shore on Sunday.

Virginia National Guard spokesperson Cotton Puryear explained that the soldiers called up were local to Hampton Roads though many assisted in Northern Virginia clean up efforts during the blizzards in December 2009 and February 2010.

"They did help out a couple stranded motorists," he said about the Guard's service on the Eastern Shore, adding that Guard members also helped transport hospital staffers to their jobs.

Puryear said calls seeking volunteers for duty went out to members of the Guard on Christmas evening. State police began making their requests for help by late Sunday evening to "do what we're calling 'route patrols,'" said Puryear.

That requires groups Guard soldiers to drive Humvees throughout Hampton Roads and the eastern shore. In Onancock, three people were stuck in a vehicle for about four hours, attempting to call for help on a cell phone but unable to connect with someone that could help them as they sat stranded along a rural road.

Sergeant 1st Class A.J. Coyne, another spokesperson for the Virginia National Guard, said Guard soldiers drove their Humvees through a some backroads and eventually found the stranded passengers.

In a separate incident, according to Puryear, soldiers picked up three people walking along the road and brought them to shelter. Other times, he said, soldiers jumped out of their Humvees and helped motorists push cars through the snow.

Numbers alone showed the impact of snow in Northern Virginia versus its southern counterparts. Virginia state police reported nine traffic crashes in Northern Virginia on Sunday. That turned out to be about one-fourth the amount of the next lowest areas. The Northwestern region, which runs from Culpeper and Fauquier in the east all the way to the West Virginia, reported 37 accidents, as did the area between Charlottesville and Lynchburg.

Meanwhile, snow pounded the Hampton Roads and Richmond, resulting in 421 crashes in the southeast and 212 between metropolitan Richmond, the Northern Neck and Tri-Cities area, according to Virginia state police. More than 1,000 calls requesting service came in from "Division V", the Chesapeake area, while 686 came in from "Division I", which is greater Richmond.

Only 178 calls came in from Northern Virginia and state police reported 40 disabled vehicles. That turned out to be more than three other regions with higher crash totals, which has more to do with the volume of traffic in the local area than snow.

"I don't think they sent anything up that way," said Spieldenner about VDOT's response. "They already had enough of their crews up there. It was mostly the southeastern parts they were (concerned) about."

State police tallied the numbers between 12:01 a.m. and 10 p.m. Sunday. VDOT has about $33 million in its budget to clear out snow in Northern Virginia. The only other time this winter season snow fell in any measurable amount in western Prince William came Dec. 16, forcing schools to close the next day. School is out of session local during the period between Christmas and New Year's.

Prince William did earn the dismal distinction for having the most fatalities in a single accident during the weekend as three men died Christmas Day when a 2005 Nissan Altima struck a median and "vaulted" into a barbershop, according to police. Three others died throughout the state as a result of traffic crashes on Dec. 24, including one person each in Campbell, Culpeper and Newport News.