More Winter Ahead

In today’s political climate, it’s only fitting that yesterday’s snowfall had us all either saying, “What a storm!” or, “What storm?” The range of snowfall across the area was dramatically different from northwest to southeast, with Westminster hardly seeing a flake to Annapolis and further south seeing a foot or more. I had hoped that the northwest trends that the models had picked up on Friday and Saturday would continue right up until the snow started falling so that all of us could have enjoyed it, but they settled on just south of the route 50 corridor as the jackpot zone. Hopefully, the next system is more charitable and includes all of us.

Regarding the Snow Contest, BWI recorded nearly 7″ of snow, and at 7AM yesterday reported their first inch of snow for the season. There were several in the contest that chose January 3rd, however, Andrea Katkow said 6AM, and Alessandra Ciccone said 8AM, meaning that we have co-winners this year. Congratulations, and I will reach out to you both so you can choose your major award!

Before looking ahead to our next potential snow-maker, I want to quickly address the slight possibility of some frozen drizzle early tomorrow morning. It is only a small chance but freezing drizzle can be a nightmare on untreated surfaces, so I wanted to make people aware of the potential. Even if air temperatures are above freezing, surface temperatures could still be cold enough to freeze, so just be careful tomorrow morning especially if any precipitation is falling.

The next possible snow event is Thursday night into Friday morning as another quick moving system from the southwest makes its way to the coast early Friday morning. I don’t think this one will have the energy to develop into a major winter storm, but if today’s model runs are correct, the entire area has the potential to see a moderate 2 – 6″ event. And unlike yesterday’s snow, temperatures do not look to be an issue. This would start as snow and stay snow for the duration. Presently, the timing looks to be from about midnight Thursday to mid-morning Friday, which would certainly bring schedule changes on Friday. It’s still early so much can (and will) change, so I’ll update either later this evening or first thing tomorrow morning.

For those that are fortunate enough to have snow on the ground today, enjoy!