7:00 AM | Bitter cold continues, snow showers possible tonight and a light-to-moderate snowfall on Friday
Paul Dorian
6-Day Forecast
Today
Partly sunny, breezy, continued bitter cold, flurries possible late in the day, highs near 20 degrees with even lower wind chills
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, snow showers possible, brutal cold, can't rule out a quick coating, lows near 10 degrees
Thursday
Mainly sunny, windy with gusts to 30 mph, still very cold with horrific wind chill values of zero or below, low 20’s
Thursday Night
Mostly cloudy, bitter cold, lows near 10 degrees
Friday
Cloudy, cold, a light-to-moderate snowfall during the afternoon and evening, low-to-mid 20’s
Saturday
Partly sunny, windy, very cold, low-to-mid 20’s
Sunday
Partly sunny, still very cold, mid-to-upper 20’s
Monday
Mostly cloudy, not quite as cold, mid-to-upper 30’s
Discussion
It feels like a little piece of the North Pole broke off and came for a visit to the Mid-Atlantic region this morning with some suburban areas reporting temperatures in the single digits. The brutal cold conditions that we have this morning will continue for the next couple of days and wind chills will continue to be a major factor; especially, on Thursday with gusts up to 30 mph expected generating wind chill values of zero or below.
As far as snow is concerned, there are two different low pressure systems to deal with between tonight and the end of the week. For tonight, a fast-moving low pressure system will drop southeast from the Great Lakes region and it will spread snow showers later tonight from southern Pennsylvania southward to the DC metro region. While a quick coating of snow late tonight is more likely across northern Virginia, northern Maryland and the DC metro region, it is possible for that to happen around here as well.
Another low pressure system will head from the Midwest on Friday to the Mid-Atlantic coastline and accumulating snow is quite likely throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. At this time, this late week system appears likely to generate a light-to-moderate snowfall for the region on Friday afternoon and evening, perhaps in the 1-3 inch range, but stay tuned as the important energy for this system is still way out over the Pacific Ocean. As a result, I believe the computer forecast models are not handling the situation well in their persistent weakening of this system. More very cold air will follow the Friday system for the upcoming weekend; however, moderation in temperatures is likely for a few days in the early and middle parts of next week. Beyond that, there are signs for more bitter cold Arctic air outbreaks.
Some good news - pitchers and catchers report in just three weeks time.
Video
httpv://youtu.be/5TeGvI2KFLY