7:00 AM | Bitter cold continues; good shot at a coating-to-an-inch or so of snow later tonight; a light-to-moderate snowfall on Friday
Paul Dorian
6-Day Forecast
Today
Partly sunny, breezy, continued very cold, flurries possible late, highs in the mid-to-upper 20’s
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, snow showers likely, a quick coating to an inch likely late with some slick road conditions, bitter cold, upper teens
Thursday
Clouds and snow showers lingering early with some slick road conditions possible with the small accumulations then beoming mainly sunny, windy and very cold with much lower wind chill values, mid-to-upper 20’s
Thursday Night
Mostly clear, very cold, lows in the middle teens
Friday
Cloudy, cold, a light-to-moderate snowfall during the afternoon and evening, mid-to-upper 20’s
Saturday
Partly sunny, windy, very cold, mid-to-upper 20’s
Sunday
Partly sunny, still very cold, upper 20’s
Monday
Partly sunny, not as cold, upper 30’s
Discussion
It feels like a little piece of the North Pole broke off and came for a visit to the Mid-Atlantic region this morning with suburban areas reporting temperatures in the teens. The brutal cold conditions that we have this morning will continue for the next couple of days and wind chills will continue to be a major factor; especially, on Thursday with gusts up to 25 mph expected generating wind chill values in the single digits.
As far as snow is concerned, there are two different low pressure systems to deal with between tonight and the end of the week. For tonight, a fast-moving low pressure system will drop southeast from the Great Lakes region and it will spread snow showers later tonight from southern Pennsylvania southward to the DC metro region. A quick coating to an inch or so is quite likely late tonight into early Thursday throughout the DC metro region, northern Maryland and northern Virginia and slick road conditions could quickly develop.
Another low pressure system will head from the Midwest on Friday to the Mid-Atlantic coastline and accumulating snow is quite likely throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. At this time, this late week system appears likely to generate a light-to-moderate snowfall for the region on Friday afternoon and evening, perhaps in the 1-3 inch range, but stay tuned as important energy for this system is still way out over the Pacific Ocean. As a result, I believe the computer forecast models are not handling the situation well in their persistent weakening of this system. More very cold air will follow the Friday system for the upcoming weekend; however, moderation in temperatures is likely for a few days in the early and middle parts of next week. Beyond that, there are signs for more bitter cold Arctic air outbreaks.
Some good news - pitchers and catchers report in just three weeks time.
Video
httpv://youtu.be/5TeGvI2KFLY