6:00 AM | ****Major nor'easter produces some accumulating snow around here, but dramatically worse to our northeast****
Paul Dorian
6-Day Forecast
Today
Snow or a mix of rain and snow will change to snow early today, snow will become steadier and heavier as the day progresses, breezy, cold, highs in the middle 30’s early
Tonight
Periods of snow, windy, very cold, blowing and drifting will occur, lows in the lower 20’s
Tuesday
Periods of snow early, windy, quite cold, total snow accumulations of 3-6 inches likely with the lesser amounts to the west (e.g., Virginia suburbs west of DC) and the higher amounts on the north and east side (e.g., PG, Montgomery Counties), upper 20’s
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy, brutal cold, middle teens
Wednesday
Partly sunny, very cold, upper 20’s
Thursday
Becoming cloudy, cold, snow in the afternoon and at night, mid 30’s
Friday
Mostly cloudy, cold, maybe some lingering snow early, mid-to-upper 30’s
Saturday
Partly sunny, cold, mid 30’s
Discussion
The potential exists for one of the all-time great nor'easters tonight and Tuesday in the region from New York City/New Jersey-to-Boston. This will be a two-part event with the first part lasting into early afternoon associated with a “clipper” type of system. Snow this morning will be sporadic and can even be mixed with rain for a bit longer, temperatures are generally still above freezing limiting accumulations to small amounts. Then, once this system reaches the western Atlantic Ocean later today, the combination of the relatively warm ocean water, a powerful upper-level jet streak and an influx of brutally cold Arctic air from the northwest will cause it to explode off of the Northeast US coastline. As the mid-day and afternoon progress, the snow will become steadier and heavier with the brunt of the storm occurring here from later today into early Tuesday. There will be some blowing and drifting of snow later tonight and on Tuesday as winds crank up out of the northeast. The snow later during the brunt of the storm will be of the dry, fluffy variety.
The worst impact of the storm will be in northern and eastern sections of the DC metro region. Snowfall accumulations by the time the storm winds down late tomorrow could range somewhat widely across the area with western sections such as near Dulles Airport experiencing only a few inches inches and areas to the north and east (Montgomery, PG Counties) experiencing as much as 6 inches or so. One last point, the overall weather pattern looks absolutely frigid for the foreseeable future – perhaps right through February -and there will be multiple snow threats with the next one arriving late Thursday into Friday. The cold shot that arrives in about a week could bring record-breaking cold into the Northeast US as we begin the month of February.
Video
httpv://youtu.be/8gdXdUWptjI