Our winter—which started in earnest only two weeks ago—has been particularly disappointing for all the schoolchildren in our region. Having become used to an irrational and debilitating fear of the slightest chance of snowfall on the part of school districts, kids in the D.C. area are hoping their little hearts out that this predicted weather system will move in and give us a nice blanketing. I mean, look at little Davy DCist in our picture there; he has prayed his own pants right off. That is dedication.
The National Weather Service, which originally issued a Winter Weather Advisory beginning at 9 a.m. this morning, has pushed this back to start at 6 p.m. tonight, and will keep it on until 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. While forecasters yesterday were calling for about an inch of snow from this storm, it looks like D.C. proper and our western and northern suburbs may experience a mix of snow and ice instead. Prince George’s County and Alexandria may see even less snow than Washington. Check out Josh Larson’s map at CapitalWeather for a good look at his predictions of what will fall where. Keep in mind, however, that there’s still a 25% chance the storm will stay south of us altogether and nothing will happen.
Both the National Weather Service and CapitalWeather expect the storm to transition from snow to sleet to freezing rain overnight. If you’re an early riser, tomorrow’s commute might be a white-knuckler with icy roads. However, it doesn’t appear that there will be widespread school cancellation, at the moment. Too bad, Davy! It’s never too late though, we need to let the administrators have some time to whip themselves into a frenzy. We’ll report on any school closings that are released this afternoon in tonight’s Go Home Already.
Following the storm, the sun may make an appearance for a short time, so make sure to watch the festivities from Punxsutawney tomorrow! If you manage to convince your boss that there’s no way for you to make it to work tomorrow, we expect you to stay at home and read DCist all day. We’ll see you here.
Illustration by Martin Austermuhle
