The winters in DC really aren't too bad. It's generally 7-10 degrees warmer than Indianapolis, sometimes more, and when you're talking about the difference between 30 and 40 degrees its pretty significant. Winter still sucks here, but its somewhere in between the really cold winters of the Midwest and the more tolerable winters in the northern areas of the south. Other than 2011, I have never seen what I would call really significant snow here. We'll get snow on a couple occasions but it usually melts the same week. This year, however, its been so bitterly cold the snow has been on the ground for awhile, I forgot how depressing it is.
I like going back to Indiana, especially in the spring and fall, but the winters (especially) and summers there really suck.