Tag: howard-county

We Reeled One In!

Friday, Jan 19, 430AM

By the time most will be reading this, they may have surmised that the models are playing catch up with this system. The short term mesoscale model runs this morning were a thing of beauty and enough for the NWS to hoist Winter Storm Warnings across central MD including Montgomery, Howard, and all the MD/PA border counties from Frederick east including Baltimore. We can now expect 4 – 5″ of snow in those areas, and possibly more. Models suggest that a heavy band of snow will set up somewhere across central MD and if so, those areas could do even better.

At 4AM, light snow has commenced for most and it will become steadier and heavier through the morning commute. I’m secretly thinking we might even do a little better than what the models are suggesting now, but I could be just getting greedy. Regardless, I am delighted to see two things as a result of this storm. First and foremost, that it can and will still snow here. The past two years have been brutal for people that enjoy winter, so this past week has been pretty good, and frankly, therapeutic. Secondly, I really enjoy that in spite of all the advances and technology in data gathering and modeling, snow can still sneak up on us. It’s nice to recognize that we can’t control everything even if it’s just snow.

Anyway, after today’s storm, a fresh blast of cold air for the weekend and then a January thaw looks to commence. Hopefully the pattern reloads in early February and we can do another week or two of real winter. If anything changes today, I’ll update. 

Mostly Wet but a Pasting for Western Areas

Friday, Jan 5, 3PM

I’m hoping that the models are wrong and things will be colder than expected, but for areas along and east of 95, this should be a little wintry mix followed by a bunch of rain. Of course, the usual rule of heading further north and west, the better the chances for snow. Regardless, precipitation arrives around noon tomorrow probably in the form of snow for most, then transitions quickly to rain for eastern areas. For the 95 corridor, there may be a quick coating on grassy surfaces but the snow should change to rain in the early afternoon. The rain/snow line should continue working north and west through the afternoon as warmer air moves in from the east, but areas along the PA line and west of Frederick may stay all snow throughout the day. Winter Storm Warnings are posted for those areas for up to 5″ of snow and maybe ice, and the lesser Winter Weather Advisories are posted for the peripheral areas to the east, including Howard.

Not to get anyone’s hopes up, but if the precipitation comes in heavy enough, there might be a few surprises even along 95. Heavier precipitation can mix the atmosphere and drag enough cold air down to overcome some warming. I’m not expecting that but it is a possibility. If that were to happen, we might be able to get a little snow thump before the transition to rain in the metro corridor.

I’ll send an update early Saturday morning for those that might have travel plans.