Friday, January 17th, 2:30PM
Very cold and dry air has settled over the area and that is going make for a tricky Saturday of driving when warmer air and precipitation arrives tomorrow morning. Heavy precipitation is not expected, but in these situations, light freezing rain is the worst because it accumulates.
I think the first batch of precip will be a one to two hour period of snow between 7 and 10AM tomorrow that will bring a quick coating to an inch of fluffy snow. Then there will be a break for a couple of hours, and then another steadier batch of precip sometime around or shortly after noon. That precipitation may start as snow, but will change to something else depending on location. For those closest to the bay and east of 95, you will change the quickest from snow or sleet to freezing rain, and then plain rain. Along and west of 95 will hold on to freezing temperatures longer and will probably have an extended period of sleet, then freezing rain, and eventually just rain. For those north of 70 up to the MD/PA line, temperatures may not get above freezing for the duration of the event, so you may end up with 2-3″ of snow followed by sleet, and eventually freezing rain or drizzle.
For all areas, expect icy travel conditions before noon. Along 95, until at least mid afternoon, and all day for northern areas. The air mass over us is very cold (dew points are hovering around 10 degrees now) and so the warm air is going to struggle scouring out the cold air at the surface.
I’ll update again tomorrow morning before things get going.
The Weather Mill 