A strong cold front passed through the region late last evening and ushered in a colder-than-normal air mass for mid-March and temperatures today will struggle to climb past 40 degrees. The front produced some high wind gusts in the area with 68 mph being recorded at Reagan National Airport (DCA) and 66 mph at Dulles Airport (IAD). The DCA observation of 68 mph was the highest wind gust recorded there since May 2019, and the third highest seen during the past 30 years. The winds will remain rather strong adding to the chill in the air and there can be a snow shower that makes its way into the I-95 corridor. It stays chilly at mid-week, but temperatures rebound by the end of the week with high temperatures back up in the 60’s.
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There is an unusually high risk of severe weather in parts of the Mid-Atlantic region from today into the late evening hours with numerous ingredients coming together. The severe weather risk will include all the following weather parameters: downpours, localized flooding, damaging winds, lightning, hail, isolated tornadoes and power outages are all on the table. Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms are likely into the late evening hours and severe weather can develop with any of these bands from mid-day on through the late evening. Much colder air pours into the Mid-Atlantic region in the overnight hours and temperatures will be well below normal on Tuesday and lows tomorrow night can bottom out near the 20-degree mark in some suburban locations. The Great Lakes “snow machine” will be turned on as well on Tuesday with numerous snow bands likely just downstream and a few snow showers can make it into the I-95 corridor.
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An unusually high risk of severe weather…
Another intense cold front is headed towards the eastern seaboard and it will bring us periods of rain today, heavy at times, watch for localized flooding, and there is an unusually high chance for strong-to-severe thunderstorms...isolated tornadoes are on the table. Winds will be quite strong ahead of the front gusting to 45 mph or so from a southerly direction and they’ll flip to a west-to-northwest direction later tonight following the passage of the front and remain very strong. Much colder air will pour into the Mid-Atlantic region during the overnight hours and there can be a few snow showers in some areas. Temperatures on Tuesday will be far below-normal for this time of year and the winds will remain quite strong and there can a few snow showers around as the “Great Lakes snow machine” gets turned on. The chill sticks around at mid-week with a gradual warmup later in the week.
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An intense storm system will develop later this weekend, and it will have an impact over a large part of the nation in the Sunday/Monday/Tuesday time period ranging from blizzard conditions to severe weather including the risk of tornadoes. The risk of severe weather in the Mid-Atlantic region will be unusually high from Monday into Monday night. The heaviest snow band is likely to extend from Minnesota to Wisconsin to the upper part of Michigan where 1-2 feet can fall and the severe weather threat will exist on Sunday/Sunday night across the MS, TN, Ohio Valleys and then shift east on Monday/Monday night from the Mid-Atlantic region to the Carolinas. Arctic air with well below-normal temperatures will pour into the northeastern states by Tuesday and lake-effect snow bands are likely to set up just downstream of the Great Lakes.
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A strong cold front passed through the region on Thursday and it’ll remain chilly and increasingly windy as we end the work week with some sunshine followed by increasing clouds. The weekend starts off on the cool, breezy side and then clouds will increase on Sunday ahead of the next cold front. That next cold front will be associated with a powerful Great Lakes storm system and be intense likely resulting in heavy rain and strong winds around here from later Sunday night into Monday night and there is the potential of strong-to-severe thunderstorm activity. Much colder air will follow the cold frontal passage for Tuesday and Wednesday.
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An intense cold front barreled through the Mid-Atlantic region earlier today and temperatures have dropped sharply from early day highs in the 60’s and should reach the middle 30’s by early-to-mid afternoon. Rain is abundant on the back side of the front and - as colder air becomes better established - a changeover to snow is going to take place in many of the same areas of the Mid-Atlantic region that experienced 80-degree high temperatures during the past couple of days. Any snow that falls this afternoon will be of the heavy, wet variety and can certainly cling easily to grassy surfaces.
Over the weekend, another strong cold front will enter the weather picture as it moves to the nation’s midsection with a widespread colder-than-normal air mass on its backside and charging to the south and east. A strong storm system is likely to form along the frontal boundary zone as upper-level support arrives, and the Great Lakes may end up with an all-out blizzard come Sunday night and Monday with plenty of snow and powerful winds. In fact, there can be accumulating snow and strong winds in this same Great Lakes region on Friday from a clipper-system and this would precede the potential blizzard. The intense cold front will bring heavy rain and strong winds to the Mid-Atlantic region/Northeast US on Monday and there can be strong-to-severe thunderstorm activity…much colder air will follow for Tuesday and Wednesday.
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An intense cold front will barrel through the region early today and it will result in some dramatic temperature changes and likely lead us to some heavy, wet snow. After the record warmth of the past couple of days, a much colder air mass will push into the area this morning and temperatures should plunge to the 30’s by the afternoon hours. Rain will begin the day, but should mix with and then change to heavy, wet snow as temperatures drop sharply and accumulations of a coating to as much as a few inches are on the table. It stays chilly on Friday and cool to begin the upcoming weekend with generally dry conditions expected on both Friday and Saturday. Another strong cold front will cross the region on Monday accompanied by periods of rain and strong winds and a widespread cold air outbreak arrives on Monday night and Tuesday.
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March is known for some wild swings in the weather, and this one looks like it will not disappoint. Temperatures peaked at record-breaking levels on Tuesday in the Mid-Atlantic region and included the earliest observation of 80 degrees in New York City’s Central Park. Severe weather broke out on Tuesday afternoon and evening across the Upper Midwest with tornadoes reported across parts of Illinois and Indiana and severe thunderstorms will be possible today from the Mid-Atlantic region and Ohio Valley to the Lower Mississippi Valley and again tornadoes will be on the table. A strong cold front pushes through the Mid-Atlantic region early Thursday and there is the chance that rain can mix with or change to snow in parts of the area by the late morning or midday hours following right on the heels of the record-breaking warmth…small accumulations of a coating to an inch or two cannot be ruled out.
Over the weekend, another strong cold front will enter the picture across the nation’s midsection with a widespread colder-than-normal air mass on its backside and charging to the south and east. A strong storm system is likely to form along the frontal boundary zone as upper-level support arrives, and the Great Lakes may end up with an all-out blizzard come late Sunday into Monday with plenty of snow and powerful winds. In fact, there can be accumulating snow and strong winds in this same Great Lakes region on Friday from a clipper-system and this would just be an appetizer for the potential late weekend blizzard. The widespread colder-than-normal air mass reaches the eastern states by late Monday and the 20’s and 30’s will be commonplace in the Mid-Atlantic region by the time we get to next Tuesday for afternoon highs...a far cry from the past couple of days. Looking ahead, as is often the case during the month of March, the early-to-mid week cold snap in the eastern states may change dramatically to much milder conditions by the end of next week and yes, this wild weather pattern can flip again with yet another widespread cold air outbreak later in the month.
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One more day of spring-like temperatures here at mid-week in the Mid-Atlantic region and some record highs may be set in spots as clouds increase ahead of a strong cold front. That strong cold front and a pre-frontal trough can produce showers for the mid-day and early afternoon and then strong-to-severe thunderstorms will be possible later today and early tonight. Much colder air will arrive on Thursday leading to quite a dramatic drop off in temperatures as compared with today’s potential record-breaking warmth. The chilly air will stick around on Friday and the weekend will start off on the cool side with dry conditions likely on both Friday and Saturday. Another strong cold front heads our way for the late Sunday night/Monday time frame with additional showers and thunderstorms possible. A widespread colder-than-normal air mass will then spread into the eastern states by Tuesday of next week on the heels of that next strong cold frontal system.
One final note, it looks like record high temperatures were set yesterday in D.C., Philly and New York City with DCA at 84 degrees, IAD at 85 degrees, BWI at 85 degrees, PHL at 83 degrees, and in Central Park (NYC), it was a record-breaker at 80 degrees and the earliest 80-degrees ever recorded.
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A significant severe weather threat exists for later today and tonight in the region from the southern Plains to the Upper Midwest and this risk which includes possible tornadoes will shift east later tomorrow to an area that extends from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic region. Numerous ingredients are coming together for this severe weather threat including a powerful surface cold front, warm and humid air in place, waves of energy aloft in both the northern and southern jet streams, and an incoming colder-than-normal air mass. After possible record-breaking warmth during the next two days in the Mid-Atlantic region, it’ll turn much cooler for Thursday and Friday following the passage of the strong cold front, and a widespread colder-than-normal air mass will push into the eastern states early next week.
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