Photo by akkson.

I can say with relative certainty that last winter did serious damage to Washington’s already-fragile wintertime mindset. It feels like everyone has resigned themselves to the fact that a massive blizzard — like the kind we experienced twice last year — is coming, and this entire city will find itself shut down for several days all over again. Far from a certainty, dear reader!

Of course, you wouldn’t get that impression if you’re a devoted consumer of local news, which is always happy to cultivate the region’s fear of crippling thundersnow. Over the last few days, I’ve seen dozens of updates regarding this weekend’s forecast. Will it snow at some point between now and Monday? Maybe! Some domestic forecasting models say we’ll be free and clear throughout the extended holiday weekend — another European model says we’re about to get the snow thrashing of a lifetime.

The DCist weather center is willing to go out on a limb and make one bold prediction, however: based on the materials we’ve seen and that our calendar tells us that it is late December, this weekend’s weather will likely be cold and windy. Prepare accordingly!