1:45 PM | Update on late week threats

Discussion

A strong cold front will pass through the region overnight and this will pave the way for a seasonably cold second half of the week in the Mid-Atlantic. Winds will pick up behind the front with gusts past 35 mph later tonight and tomorrow, and afternoon temperatures on Wednesday will primarily hold in the 30’s. Looking ahead, a couple of different systems may affect us late this week. The first system will be a fast-moving low pressure area dropping southeastward out of Canada towards the eastern Great Lakes region on its way to southeastern Canada. This low could cause some snow shower activity around here Thursday night as it passes by to our north. While this system will not have a lot of moisture with it, whatever falls on Thursday night will be in the form of snow. A second system will come towards us from the Tennessee Valley early on Saturday. This low pressure area will have more moisture associated with it compared to the first system, but temperatures will be on the border as far as snow is concerned. It appears right now that snow is likely from this early weekend system from around I-80 and points north (e.g. State College, PA to Lower Hudson Valley, NY), but it is still too early to be certain of the precipitation type here in the DC metro region. We’ll have to monitor this over the next few days to determine if we get rain, snow or some combination of the two on Saturday. Accumulations cannot be completely ruled out for either event at this time so stay tuned.