Friday, January 22, 2016

Blizzard Getting Underway in Virginia - Will Reach DC by Tonight

No major changes to the snowfall forecast as a blizzard unfolds across the mid-Atlantic and northeast U.S. today through Sunday.

We continue to expect some of the highest, if not the highest, snowfall totals to occur very near the Washington/Baltimore area, with 1-2 feet likely on average, and localized amounts of 2-3 feet possible.

The images below show the latest total snowfall forecast maps for the region as a whole, and then a zoom-in on the Washington DC area:




Snow has already started to fall in western Virginia early this morning.  Light snow will begin in the Washington DC area by late morning or midday, and will dramatically increase this afternoon and evening, with blizzard conditions likely by this evening and into tonight.

Travel will become impossible across most of the above mentioned areas starting this evening and increasing in severity into tonight and Saturday.  Strong, gusty winds will continue into Sunday, which will cause continued blowing and drifting well after the accumulating snows have ended.

If you're already in the DC area we suggest finalizing your plans to "hunker down" through at least Monday.  You still have most of the morning and midday a hours today to grab any last minute supplies.  We would also suggest taking out some cash from an ATM, in case power outages cause problems with "plastic" currency during the weekend, but that may be a mute point, because it will be very difficult or impossible to move about the area anyway based on present expectations (but it never hurts to be prepared).

No comments:

Post a Comment