6:00 AM | ****Face-slapping cold for the next few days...overnight lows flirt with the zero degree mark...monitoring a weekend storm threat****
Paul Dorian
6-Day forecast for the Washington, D.C. metro region
Today
Sun followed by clouds, breezy, very cold, highs near 20 degrees with below zero wind chills; W winds around 5-15 mph
Tonight
Partly cloudy, frigid, lows in the low-to-middle single digits
Thursday
Mainly sunny, breezy, brutally cold, near 20 degrees for afternoon highs with below zero wind chills
Thursday Night
Partly cloudy, biting cold, low-to-middle single digits for late night lows
Friday
Mainly sunny, still brutally cold, near 20 degrees; low-to-middle single digits late at night
Saturday
Increasing clouds, very cold, chance of snow late in the day or at night, upper teens
Sunday
Mainly cloudy, very cold, chance of snow, lower 20’s
Monday
Partly sunny, quite cold, near 30 degrees
Discussion
The next few days will feature some of the coldest weather ever seen around here with overnight lows on Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night likely in the lower-to-middle single digits in many spots. The last time Reagan Airport (DCA) officially recorded a below zero temperature was in January of 1994. This 3-day bitter cold spell will likely produce some record low temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as some record low high temperatures, and wind chills will be persistently below zero.
In addition to the bitter cold, there is the chance of an impact here this weekend by what looks like will become a powerful storm system somewhere near the eastern seaboard. This system will undergo dramatic intensification as it moves from the Outer Banks region to the western Atlantic Ocean and questions remain as to its ultimate path. The closer it comes to the coast, the bigger the impact in the I-95 corridor…the best chance for significant impacts as it stands right now will be along coastal sections of New Jersey/Delmarva Peninsula…stay tuned.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Arcfield Weather