Photo by erin m

“Near average” is about all the Post’s Capital Weather Gang could muster to describe what the coming winter will look like. It certainly won’t be epic like 2009-2010 (56 inches of snow!), but it could be a little more than the 2010-2011 dud (10 inches of snow):

It’s unlikely to be as cold as last winter, but we are not favoring a warm winter either. Furthermore, we have a good chance of matching or exceeding the snow totals of last winter at all three airports.

When we look back at this winter, we doubt it will be extraordinary in any measure, but the devil is in the details. While another event as unusual and shocking as our October storm may not repeat, there are sure to be plenty of surprises.

Sigh. Let’s hope we stay on the lower end of the surprise scale. This isn’t the sort of town that likes surprises, much less weather-related ones. They tend to cause mass panics and massive traffic jams.