Column: Cold continues with potential for snow

WASHINGTON – The D.C. area is in the full swing of winter, even though the normal pattern is flip-flopping a bit: Snow is falling mostly to the south and east of the D.C. area, when normally we see snow to the north and west.

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Radar is showing snow, sleet and freezing rain across much of the Deep South Tuesday afternoon. (Courtesy WJLA)

Snow, sleet and freezing rain began falling Tuesday across the Deep South, and while I do not believe this will be a big storm for us, I do believe that we could see a few inches pile up in parts of our listening area before Wednesday morning.

So let’s break it down:

There is a winter weather advisory for Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, St. Mary’s, Calvert, Charles, Stafford, Spotsylvania and King George counties in effect until 6 a.m. Wednesday (purple).

There is also a wind chill advisory for the Shenandoah Valley, Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and part of Maryland from midnight until noon on Wednesday (blue).

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The areas in blue are under a wind chill advisory from midnight through noon Wednesday. The areas in purple are under a winter weather advisory through 6 a.m. Wednesday. (Courtesy WJLA)

A disturbance moving through the Tennessee Valley Tuesday will eventually lead to an area of low pressure forming off the Carolina coast. This low will then hug the coast moving northward and eventually push off to the east and out to sea Wednesday. Before that, snow has the potential to accumulate around our region.

The south has already been blasted with winter weather (freezing rain/sleet/snow) where numerous roads have already been shut down and a plethora of winter storm warnings were issued for Tuesday and Tuesday night.

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Winter weather has spread across much of the Deep South and the Carolinas already. (Courtesy WJLA)

If you are traveling south or east Wednesday morning, down I-95 or eastward to Route 50, make sure that you pay particular attention to this forecast as things could get a little dicey the farther south and east you travel in the state of Virginia and further east you travel in Maryland (Eastern Shore).

This is a representation of the probability of greater than 2 inches of snow falling across our region. Again, a better chance of at least 2 inches of snow accumulating in Southern Maryland (50 percent – 70 percent across the region) while south of D.C. around the I-95 corridor has about a 10% shot of seeing more than 2inches of snow.

Even though the minor accumulating snow will be south and east of D.C., do not be surprised if you find a dusting in Loudoun County, Montgomery County and counties just to the north and west of the D.C. area. So when all is done, the snow accumulation will be anywhere from a dusting around the D.C. area to a few inches the farther south and east you travel.

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NWS graphical model of percentages for snow accumulations greater than 2 inches across the region. There is a 50-70 percent chance to see more than 2 inches of snow across Southern Maryland and portions of King George County while around the D.C. area, you will only find about a 10 percent chance for 2 inches of snow or greater. North and west have zero chance to see more than 2 inches of snowfall Tuesday night, the way it stands at 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday.

Thankfully, Calvert County Schools are closed for a teacher work day, but I do believe there will be some delays and possibly even cancellations Wednesday morning as again, this snow will stick to the roadways. Temperatures will warm into the mid- to upper 20s Wednesday and the sunshine will return with high pressure building into the region.

Temperatures will gradually move up after Tuesday and will eventually be in the 40s for the weekend, which is nearing normal, so at least we can look forward to that!

Spring is in 51 days.

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