PM Update: Showers Departing

SEVERE WEATHER ALERT: Hurriphoonado Claire is terrorizing the world...just in from The Onion.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/hurriphoonado_cuts_swath_of

Disclaimer:
As with every Onion story ever posted on the CWG, someone takes it seriously and flips out on someone. It's a joke. Not real. Imaginary. Satire. Funny. Haha.

Okay?

Good.

One last area of showers moving across NOVA now has some pretty intense looking returns on radar -- wondering if there is some sleet in it.

I have heard for the better half of the day that this weather event would be over byh now. What gives? The radar is looking ominous! Gosh --- had we had cold air in place and an Artic High to our North this would have been the stom we all have been praying for since CWG started a web-site several years ago.

Camden Crazies will be in the nursing home by the time we get our next true major winter storm.

VERY cold air is still possible and probadly likely next week and then after but still no real signs of a major "winter" storm! IMO its either now or never because we may be warming up late month.

and radar returns look very impressive around D.C. Any Sleet?

where is the weather underground radar link???

obtw i'm off to work looks like its going to be a great night "Tonight: Showers should be mostly out of the area by early evening, but may persist a bit longer east of D.C. Otherwise, look for mostly cloudy skies to continue, with a few more breaks by morning. Lows drop to around freezing in most locations as a westerly breeze kicks up". looks like i will injoy the nice breeze.Statement as of 3:01 PM EST on January 07, 2009
just my luck i will be running down from wash-ricmond and will just miss the high winds.

... Wind Advisory in effect until 5 am EST Thursday...

The National Weather Service in Sterling Virginia has issued a
Wind Advisory... which is in effect until 5 am EST Thursday.
no fear wash area just a westerly breeze for us

Still expecting a change to above average temps the latter part of this month, which should last all of Feb. Looks like if it doesn't snow in the next 21/2 weeks, could be a mostly snowless winter.

VaTech Bob,

Are you always this positive? According to models we may be getting the coldest stretch of weather in years which should lead to some snow chances for us. Boy, I would hate for it to be just very cold and dry!

CarolinaMike: one note, just because it gets cold that does not mean snow. There is a chance but IMO its a SLIM chance. The pattern is just not for it, niether is the storm track.

thats what I am been trying to tell you people. we are not going to get 1 inch this season. Its just not in the cards this season. Time to move on to spring.

deveinmadisonva -- just to clarify for anyone in our audience that may see your comment ... the wind advisory is not for the DC metro area. It's for areas west of Fauquier County.

Just like usual...we have just foregone a good 2+ feet of snow... and all we get is this boring old cold RAINMONSTER!!!

Many of us remember a storm at this time exactly 13 years ago. The precipitable water was about the same. However global warming or something kept the jet stream this year too far inland so all we got was this miserable RAIN rather than the exiting BLIZZARD we had back in 1996. At least things weren't too windy this week. Once again it gets too darned MILD whenever the moisture feeds in and too darned DRY when we get the cold air. I hope VaTech Bob isn't right on our future near-term weather since I'm getting mighty fed up with these snowless winters we've had of late. Meanwhile, back home in Wisconsin, they have been getting the cold weather and quite a bit of snow. Why we can't get it down here to the Mid-Atlantic is a mystery to me.

DON'T WORRY, there's still time to get the 31+ inches I predicted in November.

People at my work today were already talking about how it's going to snow next Thursday, for example, and how they were going to have to cancel next Thursday evening's events for it and everything.

Get out your snowshoes, friends! Here comes the big one!

ClintonPortis:

You keep saying the pattern is bad for snow, but you offer no support whatsoever for that assertion. The Pacific is moving into a configuration that is perhaps ideal for cold and snow in the East. True, the Atlantic isn't particularly cooperating, but bottom line, the pattern we are entering into is NOT a bad one for snow. Is it the perfect pattern, no, but in my mind its probably a better pattern than we've seen in a LONG time around here. Certainly the best this winter, probably the best for a few winters.

Does this guarantee it will snow? No. But it certainly raises the chances of it substantially.

The newest GFS, which just came out, shows a "hybrid clipper" event this Saturday which has been moving slightly south each run. The line is literally about 20 miles north of us right now. I still think our chances of snow with this event are still slim (I'd put it at 30%), but if the southward trend continues, we could well get a good 2-6" event as soon as Saturday. And this is the first time a storm has started north and trended south - the past storms were all the opposite. These are all good signs.

Further, the GFS (with support from the EURO), taken verbatim, shows the polar vortex moving south. Again, taken verbatim, HIGHS in the DC area are likely in the TEENS on Wednesday, with lows near 0. Highs may not go above freezing for 5 or more days. We are looking at a potentially historic cold outbreak. Even if the GFS is overdone, which of course is possible, I think a stretch of highs in the 20s is quite probable at this point.

We are entering a great winter period in my mind. Will it actually snow, who knows. But the chances are certainly there. We finally have a hand we can play. Why everyone here keeps going with the "it'll never snow again, this pattern is horrible" stuff is beyond me.

@jahutch

Ding Ding Ding. Good post.

heavy snow squall here @ herndon, dusting on ground... HOW ABOUT THAT

@jahutch

I don't disagree about the cold. Everything I say here is IMO! I don't care what the models have been showing 5-10 days out, We can't continue to fight the pattern that is not favorable for snow. Yes! sure it may be becoming more favorable but that still does not guarantee snow. its going to get cold, how cold? don't know. The GFS tends to be overdone when it comes to how cold it will be. As I said before it either now or never! IMO I see nothing major coming out of it. Until it does I will remain "anti snow" Which i'm not by the way. The GFS is unreliable more then a week out. Any potental snowstorm it shows more then a week out as a slim chance of happening. The GFS has continued over and over again this year of showing a major winter storm for us only to pretty much vanish has we get closer to the event.