Sunday, February 27, 2005
Snowstorm: What to expect...
Jason Samenow @ 11:00 PM
- Snow should breakout from southwest (Charlottesville) to northeast (Baltimore) between midnight and 5am. Because the air is dry, it will take an hour or so for the precipitation on radar to reach the ground
- Snow will become steady and possibly heavy between 6am and 10am. Moderate to heavy snow should continue through late afternoon. Winds will gradually increase, and may become a bit gusty in the late afternoon. South and east of DC (and downtown), there is a 50% chance the snow may mix with (or change to) sleet during the afternoon hours.
- In the evening hours, the snow will be intermittent and mostly light. However, some moderate bursts are possible with some light additional accumulation possible. Most snow should taper off early Tuesday morning. But flurries are possible through Tuesday afternoon.
- Temperatures should be about 30-32 degrees for much of the storm. Because of the time of year (high sun angle) and barely freezing temperatures, the snow will most likely just stick to high traffic roads when the snow falls heavily. However, secondary roads will be snow covered for much of the storm.
- I suspect all major school systems will close tomorrow (see the schoolcast from the previous post). The Federal Government may close IF the snow has begun when managers at OPM make their decisions tomorrow morning and the radar shows heavy snow for the rush hour commute that is likely to continue. I'd say 50/50 odds.
- My snow accumulation forecast remains 6-10" for our area, and the snowfall map shown in my previous post applies. It is not out of the question that some areas see greater amounts, just as the possibility for lesser amounts cannot be ruled out -- particularly if the storm trends out towards the ocean.
*Federal Employees -- Operating Status from OPM
*School closings -- from WUSA
*Webcams, traffic cams and numerous useful links -- WxNation's DC page
I'll post an update early tomorrow morning, by 7:30am.
A few post 11pm TV news updates
*Metro will close above ground stations if snowfall exceeds 8" according to News4. That may affect OPM's decision (re Federal Gov status) if heavy accumulations look inevitable.
*Forecasts: National Weather Service, 6-10" / NBC 4, 4-8" / Fox 5, 4-7" / WJLA 7, up to 7" / WUSA 9, 4-6"
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