7:00 AM | **Significant winter weather event on Sunday with snow and ice accumulations**
Paul Dorian
6-Day Forecast
Today
Cloudy with periods of rain, after peaking early in the day temperatures will fall through the afternoon reaching the mid 40’s by day’s end
Tonight
Cloudy with periods of rain, there is a small chance that the rain could mix with or change to sleet and/or snow after midnight well to the N and W of the District before winding down, lows by morning in the low-to-mid 30’s
Saturday
Becoming partly sunny, cold, breezy, low 40’s
Saturday Night
Mostly cloudy, colder, upper 20’s
Sunday
Cloudy with snow arriving during the morning hours then mixing with or changing to sleet and freezing rain, up to a couple inches of snow and ice accumulations are possible on Sunday with tricky travel conditions for awhile, mid 30’s
Monday
Mostly cloudy, cold, rain likely, mid 40’s
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy, windy, cold, chance for some rain or snow early in the day, mid 30’s
Wednesday
Partly sunny, very cold, near 30
Discussion
An Arctic front that has been progressively sweeping across the nation will slow down and then stall out today in a southwest-to-northeast fashion near the east coast allowing for a couple waves of low pressure to ride along its temperature gradient boundary zone. The first wave will generate periods of rain around here today and tonight and as the colder air continues to filter into the region in the overnight hours, there is a small chance that the rain could mix with or change to sleet and/or snow in the far northern and western suburbs before ending.
After a break in the action on Saturday, a classic "cold air damming" event will take place on Sunday and Sunday night. Another wave of low pressure will spread wintry precipitation into the region on Sunday that will continue into Sunday night before changing to plain rain. The current thinking on the timetable and precipitation type is as follows (subject to change): snow is likely to arrive during the morning hours and then it should mix with or change to sleet and/or freezing rain before a change to plain rain later Sunday night. Accumulations of up to a couple of inches of snow and ice are possible on Sunday and travel can get tricky for awhile as there is likely to be an extended period with temperatures near the freezing mark. By Monday, milder air should win out along the I-95 corridor where the precipitation is likely to fall as plain rain, but not too far to the north and west of the big cities, frozen precipitation could linger. By Tuesday, the next Arctic invasion will begin and very cold conditions will persist through the mid-week in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as across much of the country. [A detailed video description of "cold air damming" is available on our "Meteorology 101" page].
One final interesting tidbit: there is a report this morning that the 8am average temperature across the continental US was 18.1 deg F which is colder than at any time during last winter. According to weatherbell.com, the lowest average CONUS temperature at any time last winter was 18.9 deg F.
Video
httpv://youtu.be/ZZNm_JFtR0A