6:00 AM | ****High impact weather event underway with accumulating snow that will be followed by extreme cold and dangerous wind chills****
Paul Dorian
The storm is developing an eye as seen in GOES-16 RGB nighttime microphysics imagery.
6-Day DC Forecast
Today
Snow will wind down this morning as the wind intensifies, there will be some blowing of the snow later in the day as winds gust to 40 mph, accumulations on the order of a dusting to 2 inches to the west of DC, 1-3 inches in DC and points to the east, cold, highs in the mid 20’s
Tonight
Becoming partly cloudy, brutally cold, very windy with gusts to 40 mph, lows in the upper single digits and dangerous sub-zero wind chills
Friday
Extremely cold despite some sunshine, very windy with gusts to 40 mph, upper teens for highs and dangerous sub-zero wind chills
Friday Night
Partly cloudy, bitter cold, still windy with dangerous sub-zero wind chills, lows in the mid-to-upper single digits
Saturday
Continued extreme cold, still windy, highs in the mid-to-upper teens with dangerous sub-zero wind chills
Sunday
Mainly sunny, still cold, but not quite as outrageous, mid-to-upper 20’s
Monday
Mainly cloudy, not as cold, chance for rain, ice and/or snow, near 40 degrees
Tuesday
Mainly cloudy, milder, chance for rain and/or snow, low-to-mid 40’s
Discussion
A high impact weather event is underway for much of the eastern US with bands of accumulating snow that will be followed by extreme cold and dangerous sub-zero wind chills. A powerful storm over the western Atlantic Ocean is intensifying rapidly on its way to the east of Maine by early tonight. This storm will reach hurricane-like strength by tonight with its central pressure bottoming out at category 3 (major) hurricane levels. Extremely cold air will pour into the eastern US on the heels of this ocean storm and winds will strengthen significantly for tonight, tomorrow and Saturday. The combination of wind gusts past 40 mph and the extremely cold temperatures will generate dangerous sub-zero wind chill values for an extended period of time from tonight to Saturday night. After that, some moderation in temperatures should arrive early next week, but that temporary “warm up” may be accompanied by some wintry precipitation.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Vencore, Inc.
vencoreweather.com