Wintry Mix Inbound

National Weather Service loop of the precipitation coming our way.


The first potentially significant winter storm of the year is coming, and while it won't be "the big one", it definitely will be disruptive. Like lots of DC area storms, there is going to be a sharp cutoff in terms of who will get rain and who will get snow, as temperatures will be borderline throughout the storm. As usual, the horses and cows in Damascus will get more snow than the people living in Silver Spring and Bethesda.


Most of the county looks to get an inch or so of snow/sleet tonight before the switch over to freezing rain. A glazing of freezing rain on trees and cars is possible when you wake up in the morning, however, this will begin to melt away during the day as the temparatures slowly climb above freezing. However, the finer details of temperature climb are still murky and could result in anything from a transient burst of freezing rain that is quickly washed away to a significant glazing that could lead to major travel disruptions throughout the day.

The computer models tend to under forecast the ability of cold air to remain in place in our area (cold air damming), which leads me to think that we could get a good coating of ice over the snow before it is washed away by the rain. Right now I would predict an inch of snow and sleet overnight with a glaze of about .1-.2" of ice overnight that is slowly washed away during the day as the temperature climbs above freezing. This will lead to traffic and other delays in the morning that will subside as the day moves on.

While in no means a major storm, this could be the first storm of the year with some tangible snowfall, and considering that it's already January 20th, it's better late than never.