Weekend snow? A breakdown of when winter weather will hit again

WASHINGTON — Friday will bring sunny skies, but more snow is heading toward the region as many people are still working to dig out from the latest snowy mess.

While sunshine will break through Friday (hopefully everybody has those sunglasses handy), another chance of snow showers will affect the WTOP listening area Friday night and through the first part of Saturday. We could even pick up a few inches of snow in spots on top of what we already received Thursday.

map 1

Snow totals across the region: Dulles Airport broke a record (13.3 inches), while Reagan National Airport saw 7 inches, BWI 11.5 inches. About a foot was the average across the region while the area saw anywhere from 7 inches to 24 inches.

In fact, the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for the area shaded in purple including the Northern Shenandoah Valley, the eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, plus Washington, Frederick and Carroll counties in Maryland from 10 p.m. Friday night until 10 a.m. Saturday morning. These areas could see snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches.

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A series of disturbances will continue to affect the D.C. region through the next seven days. Some could bring snow, some could bring rain but we are NOT looking at anything like we saw Thursday — just quick-moving systems traveling through the region.

If you are in the north and western tier of our listening area, plan on seeing the first flakes fly after 7 p.m. and after 9 p.m. if you are around the D.C. metro area. A piece of energy dragging a cold front with it will track through the Tennessee Valley Friday night, traveling and intensifying along the North Carolina/Virginia border during the overnight hours.

map 2

A surface map from 1 a.m. Saturday morning shows low pressure sweeping across the North Carolina/Virginia border bringing additional snow through Virginia.

The snow could linger through the first part of Saturday with some rain mixed in during the onset and through Saturday (mainly near the D.C. area and areas to the southeast).

Snow totals are minor but still could create problems considering the snow we have on the ground already. The snow will coincide with temperatures right below the freezing mark Friday night and into Saturday for much of the listening area.

Below is a map with some of the snow totals that could be expected, the heaviest being north and west of the D.C. area.

map 3

A NWS computer generated model of snow accumulations for Friday night through Saturday night.

To break it down even more, below is a graphic displaying the chances that you will see more than or just around 2 inches in your location by the end of this event. It is about a 70 percent shot through the Shenandoah Valley while it is only about a 30 percent to 40 percent chance around the D.C. metro area.

map 4

The probability of 2 inches or more snow to fall across the area. Look at the left legend for the precipitation chances in percentages based on the colors across the map.

Saturday will feature temperatures in the mid- to upper-30s but it will feel like we are in the 20s with the increasing northwesterly winds in the afternoon hours.

There will be another slight chance of a brief snow shower/flurry on Sunday and then another disturbance is expected to roll through the area Monday night into Tuesday. However, temperatures will near 50 by the middle of next week — so a mini-warm up is on the way!

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