Photo by Eric Purcell

Although D.C. was briefly warned yesterday to brace for as much as five inches of snow today, that forecast has continued to be scaled back to the point where the city might not get much snow, if any at all.

Still, District agencies are plowing ahead as though the snow is still coming. The Department of Public Works is sending out 200 plows today to salt the roads before the weather arrives and to plow what little snow actually piles up.

A winter weather advisory from the National Weather Service will be in effect in D.C. from 2 to 11 p.m. today, but the Capital Weather Gang’s most recent forecasting models project that the heaviest snow will be well south of the District.

With temperatures in the city hovering around 40 degrees, cold, driving rain is more likely than a dumping of snow. The temperature is expected to drop into the low 30s throughout the day and may eventually turn the precipitation in to wet, heavy snow, but don’t expect much accumulation.

But commuters still should take precautions. The incoming precipitation is expected to be heavy at times, and if it does turn to snow, it will do so right as people are headed home from work. “We want people to be aware that the change to snow probably will occur just before the afternoon rush hour,” William O. Howland Jr. the director of the Department of Public Works, said in a news release. District residents can track their nearest plow on a DPW website that reports how recently their streets were prepped for any incoming snow.

“I used to love snow,” Mayor Vince Gray told DCist yesterday. “Until I got this job.”