WOOHOO! But, judging by Thursday afternoon's incident with schools not closing early with 3+ inches of snow on the roads, I guess we (students) shouldn't get our hopes too high about snow days when it snows anymore.

Remember back 1 or 2 years ago a snowfall like the one predicted in this advisory would close schools for 2 days and delay them for a few after that? Good times...

Even a half-inch of snow would make a difference. I'm guessing that whatever snow falls would stick to the roads. It's hard for asphalt to get above freezing when it's been chilled to single-digit temperatures a day before.

What are the chances of the cold air staying in place into the afternoon?

The greatest threat for tomorrow will be from something unusual so far this winter, cold Pavement, especially in shaded areas, bridge decks and overpasses. Radiational cooling will be excellent tonight until clouds begin moving in. If clouds rush in late at night after substantial cooling and precip. moves in during the morning before temps. have recovered to well above freezing, things could quickly become interesting on highways.

The only saving grace to prevent otherwise treacherous conditions is the fact that precip. is expected to be light.

NO! I don't want to drive in that. And there is a zero chance of a closing for Loudoun because we are taking exams. I don't want to drive in it again!

uhuh.
so this isnt something to be too concerned about, is it? no one seems to be too excited....
what are the chances percentage wise for snow/ice?

Watch the radar returns later tonight over Georgia and the western Carolina's. If precip. begins to break out, moving north, our chances will be better for some precip tomorrow. Much of the precip. over the midwest will be wrung out crossing the mts. while the main energy streaks across Penn. Tomorrow eve., we have another chance as residual moisture may fall as snow.

What are the chances we will see at least a dusting of snow tomorrow? Thx!

So will the ice-lovers crystal ball make its first appearance? :)

Today there was a pretty good forecast bust temperature wise. Highs were predicted to reach the mid 30s, and instead, 30 was barely reached. If this is any indication as to the strength of cold air in place, we may end up with a bit longer frozen precip period than anticipated tomorrow. That said, I'm not counting on it. The fact it was colder today probably says little about how long it'll take to scour out the cold.

I think a dusting prior to rain is possible - but it will all wash away of course. The post-front precip may actually be the more interesting with this system. The ground is frozen solid, and we still have some snowpack from Thursday, so it won't take much at all for what does fall to stick.

What are the chances temps stay at or below freezing tomorrow in the Dulles area?

Snowlover--pretty good actually

Around February 19th. I'm calling it right now, so make your preparations.

18-24 inches. Yeah, GET READY.

Jason,

That does not make any sense. How could the temps be at or below freezing around Dulles and be 10 degrees higher 10 miles away in Arlington? Please explain.

Why didn't you guys post the snow lovers crystal ball?

Not understanding the call for NWS Forecast for Rockville, MD for Tuesday night. 40% chance of rain, low 24 degrees.
What?

And then they say 30% chance snow, Wed. Night, Thursday.

I think someone at the NWS office is on a bit of snow.
And not the sledding type.

Period,

Dulles is about twice that distance from Arlington and it's due west - and higher in elevation. It's amazing what a difference in slight distance makes. Plus I don't think they're calling for 42 degrees or more in Arlington. But we're all hoping for a little miracle here. We'll see!!

Still, 10 degrees for 20 miles is whack.

Weather.com says 37 for Dulles tomorrow and 39 for Arlington, so am I still missing something?

ALSO,

Rain for tomorrow night when it is below freezing makes no sense.

yea, the rain with a low of 26 doesn't make very much sense to me. The forecast does say that the rain will end around 8. So does this mean that it will go below freezing after the rain stops? if so...wow. dc has some bad wintery weather luck. thats too bad.

this weather page is so much fun. It actually tells me what I want to know about the weather.

Why can't the link on the index page bring me here instead of that dreary, uninformative weather page?

The NWS seems to be downplaying the next event still; a changeover to rain coupled with falling temps seems to suggest the possibilities of icing roads. On New Years eve, fast falling temps resulted in many accidents north and west of town including the tragic death of a Loudon Co fire fighter on his way to work.

This event caught many of us by surprise and I do not recall if the NWS predicted this (although they may have). Are we looking at a similar situation?

BL

The roads will be horrible. Tomorrow will be a heck of a day driving home from school especially because young drivers are inexperienced and I just got my car back from a month and a half ago.

Sam: No snow lover's crystal ball because our assessment this morning didn't call for accumulating snow. Admittedly, it's one of those borderline cases.

Hey guys. Thanks for all your hard work. Much appreciated.
I have to drive to Dulles tomorrow afternoon, 2-3 pm. Guesses on what we face? Will look for reply here and on later post.

UGH! I MISS THE MIDNIGHT UPDATE! Where did it go?! No new information for HOURS.

Wow - 4:32 am and the last update from the CWG was at 3:42pm yesterday. 12 hours without an update.

Chase and Greg: If no new info is posted, that's because nothing has changed since the last update. There was nothing new to write about last night. Please be assured that there will be updates in the evening if the weather calls for it.

GV: There could be some light snow or mixed precip around the Dulles area when you go. I don't think the major roads will be terrible, but use caution if it's precipitating.