7:00 AM |**Arctic air arrives overnight and this blast will be followed by another - perhaps the coldest yet - by the time Sunday rolls around**

6-Day DC Forecast

Today

Mostly cloudy, becoming windy, cold, scattered snow showers during the mid-day and afternoon hours that can be mixed with rain at the onset, there can even be a brief heavier burst of snow later today with a quick coating of snow possible, highs in the mid-to-upper 30’s

Tonight

Clearing skies, windy and turning brutally cold, lows near 10 degrees with sub-zero wind chills

Friday

Mostly sunny, windy, very cold, low-to-mid 20’s for highs with sub-zero wind chills

Friday Night

Partly cloudy, winds die down, very cold, lows in the mid-to-upper teens

Saturday

Increasing clouds, becoming windy, cold, snow likely late in the day and at night, upper 30’s; brutal cold at night

Sunday

The coldest day of the winter so far…partly sunny, very windy with potential damaging wind gusts, painfully cold, mid-to-upper teens for highs and dangerous sub-zero wind chills

Monday

Mostly sunny, breezy, very cold, mid 20’s for highs after a bitter cold start to the day

Tuesday

Mostly cloudy, quite cold, snow likely, mid 30’s

Discussion

A vigorous Arctic cold front is headed our way and it’ll generate scattered snow showers here during the mid-day and afternoon hours – perhaps even a brief heavier burst of snow with a quick coating possible. Temperatures will plunge in the overnight hours bottoming out near 10 degrees in many suburban locations by early tomorrow morning. Winds will pick up in intensity later today and remain strong through much of Friday generating sub-zero wind chills at times.

Before this Arctic air mass even has a chance to modify, another one will be fast-approaching as we begin the weekend. By late Saturday, a clipper system and its associated Arctic front will be dropping southeastward across the Great Lakes and this will generate some snow in the area later Saturday into Saturday night (a coating to two inches on the table for this event). Brutal cold air will follow this clipper system which will intensify rapidly off the Northeast US coastline once it reaches the relatively warm waters of the western Atlantic Ocean this weekend. In fact, Sunday should turn out to be the coldest day of the winter so far in the eastern US all the way from Maine to Florida and low temperatures on Sunday and Monday could flirt with the 0 degree mark in many I-95 corridor locations. Winds will be very strong on Sunday and could be potentially damaging - power outages are the last thing we need on Sunday, but that possibility cannot be ruled out. Another accumulating snow threat will come Tuesday into Wednesday as tons of “southern” moisture heads right towards the Mid-Atlantic region. This storm could also produce significant ice and perhaps even plain rain in the area...just too early to make that call yet.

Video

httpv://youtu.be/7vLfp462510