A dud . . . breaking in two and going south of us . . .

http://www.accuweather.com/news-blogs.asp?partner=accuweather&blog=meteomadness
says baltimore-washington area may pick up 3 in of snow before the sleet & freezing rain thurs nite and fri

reminds me of last years valentines day storm where school was closed for over 2 days!

Some hebrew schools have cancelled, some not. Some after school activities have been cancelled, some not. :(

Been snowing for several hours with no accumulation... weird

Moderate burst of snow here... really tiny flakes

Everyone's talking about this big snow event Thursday/Friday. To me, this means we'll get nothing.:)

I'm in Baltimore county and we have about 2 inches and it's snowing at a decent rate.

Some snow is accumulating here [Alexandria] and the roads are clear and it doesn't seem to be sticking

Nothing.

Now watch us a get several storms in March when everyone has spring fever.

It's been disappointing - bring on the warmth and put a bullet in winter.

About 30 minutes of flurries here in Reston at lunchtime and thats been it!

WHEN WILL IT START STICKING??????????

Is the probability for the Thur/Fri event really only 50% at this point? I would say more like 75% but that is just me :)

Wow, been snowing for about 30 minutes in Lake Ridge and it's rapidly accumulating. About 1/2" on the grass and trees. Nothing on the cars, sidewalks or roads yet.

i posted this comment earlier, near the end of a thread. now, i've seen billions and billions of flakes, but i wonder how many.

augusta jim or some other weather guy:

i was thinking about how i've seen a few flakes today - probably on the order of 1,000,000 even though it's just flurries, and i got to wondering.....i know it depends on temp/pressure and probably a bunch of other stuff, but how many snowflakes would you say are in an "average" 1 cu.in. of snow?

Interesting that this clipper seems to be performing opposite of what most of our storms typically do. The further east you are, the less snow you are getting. It seems that across the bay or even western PG County should be seeing some decent accumulation (while western Fairfax, etc has been mostly dry). However, as the sun quickly drops, we should start to see an increase in accumulation across the area that is seeing snow.

Walter(falls church): Here's a link to a pretty interesting article about snowfall worldwide, and in the second part the amount of snowflakes in a cubic foot is given(an estimate at least.) Take a look, its an interesting read.
http://www.livescience.com/environment/070119_snowflakes_alike.html

Snowing quite moderately in Oxon Hill. Sticking and covering grassy areas. Roads just wet, even side streets. Temperature down to 32.2 by National Harbor.

It's not going to stick. I have a hunch the models have been performing so poorly because they're forecasting what WOULD HAVE happened had not global warming been messing with the climate.

Here in Beltsville it's been snowing off and on since 12:30 but there's no accumulation at all on the grass or pavement. Weird.

Especially the long-range models . . .

You can only see the tops of the grass blades and the leaves in the grass now. I'd say almost an inch already. This is happening FAST! I wouldn't doubt if we got another 1-2 inches in lake ridge by the end of this. It took me 5 minutes to explain to my mom that even though it is snowing and sticking to THE GRASS that she won't slide off the road and blow up. She HATES winter and HATES that I am a snow lover. She yells at me and threatens to take my computer away if it snows. LOL. But, I understand her nervousness about having to drive home right now; because it could start sticking to the roads at any moment. I wouldn't say it's very likely until the sun goes down, but still.

accumulating very quickly now with this band down here in calvert county

WSL,

Seriously friend. C'mon... hopefully you have more common sense than that.

Snow is overspreading the full metro area as we speak from SouthEast to NorthWest as it fully saturates the atmosphere and gets cranked up. The animated Accuweather radar (available in the sidebar) does a great job of illustrating this. And on that, I'm getting my butt home to the south-east side of the beltway.

Everything is white here south of Annapolis! Snowing hard!

Good link, arnoldkh. Here's another good source.

dry, dry, dry here in Fauquier County but the schools still canceled evening activities.

As noted in my post of this morning this thing is a dud. I am looking out the front window at the sun in NW Montgomery and the radar (not your radar) looks like $%#!

Has been snowing steadily for almost two hours here in Mount Vernon. The grass is completely covered as are the tree limbs, but the driveway is spotty. 32.5.

WSL,
There is absolutely no connection.

arnoldkh,
thanks. cool article. they said a cubic foot has about 1,000,000,000 crystals, so a cubic inch has about 578,704 crystals. wow.

Pretty moderate snow right now, bout .5 for now....it's a clipper...I'm satisfied....

Seems like all points north, south, east and west of here (College Park, MD) are reporting some accumulation. Like Ana B up the road from me in Beltsville noted - its been snowing on and off for several hours now, but not even the slightest hint of accumulation anywhere!

Absolutely nothing happening in Herndon. Just overcast.

On the east side of downtown (10th and M NW), we're starting to get a little accumulation on non-paved surfaces, especially elevated areas (car tops, tree limbs, fences, etc).

LoCo bootheel has nothing at all. I guess we were in the bullseye for the first two events...nothing on the grass even.

Snow has slowed to a near stop here in Rockville. You have to look real hard to notice the few flakes that are falling. Accumulation so far: Trace. Slight dusting near the bases of trees, mostly un-noticeable elsewhere.

Snowing pretty good now here at the White House, there have been small flakes for hours but no accumulation, but in the last few minutes the flakes have become much larger. Hold a good thought.

Over an inch at National Harbor/Oxon Hill. Temp still 32.2. Roads are just wet. To find road temps in MD. below freezing one has to go north and east of the beltway. Check out this link http://www.chart.state.md.us/travInfo/weatherStationData.asp for road temperatures in Maryland.

Big flakes and moderate snow downtown on the west side of the heavy band centered over PG county.

capweather guys,
on the old site there used to be a way to get to several other radar images. one i liked let you go to regional (like southeast u.s., northwest u.s. etc) or even a national image. can you give us those links again? if it helps, the radar image i'm thinking of had a white background...thanks.

Capweather guys,
Is it true that snow is about to taper off when the flakes become very large? I'm not sure where I heard that...

http://www.noaawatch.gov/

thanks uncle dak - that's the one - the doppler radar. i wonder if the capweather guys could put that link somewhere?

snow falling pretty hard in capitol hill...

Snow has drastically calmed to a light light light LIGHT snow in Lake Ridge. About 1" of snow.

That was quick.

Uncle Dak-- See this link. We're going to put it up on the sidebar soon :)

dc native-- Large flakes don't necessarily mean the snow is ending but sometimes signify a changeover to sleet or rain, as we explained a several weeks ago. That's not the case tonight though. The size of the flakes is more related to the number of flakes falling and intensity

nothin doing here in NWDC, radar still shows snow over the DC area but nothin is falling. anybody have any input on the upcoming storm, looking as though we might get the icy part. unfortunate.

Here is another, closer look at the intellicast radar. http://www.intellicast.com/National/Radar/Metro.aspx?location=USDC0001&animate=true

dissapointing, not even a dusting in bethesda.
Is there still a chance for any accumulations in bethesda?

Picked up a dusting here so far in Glover Park. Precipitation has wound down for now, looks like at least one more band of snow will cross.

Had about 50 min of light snow in NW Spotsy. a little dusting on the leaves & mulched areas.

The latest NOAA radar shows the main bulk of the precip still to come. Is that correct, or wishful thinking?

for the "at a glance" forecasts, why does it always change, an hour ago it had icicles, 5 miniutes ago it had plain rain, and now it is back to icicles?

Etta: wishful thinking. we're nearing the end -- one more band to move through the immediate metro area over the next hour or so

This sucked.

oh man we got nuthin out here ... other than a coupla flyin' flakes. shouldn't have complained about snow days *jinx*

Looks like many of the outlets are calling for warmer than anticipated temps on Friday...

Get your rain gear people!

Nodda in Bethesda.

Thanks for depressing me Period. :-(

lovin that radar! approaching 2inches here

Wow, you're a real pessimist Period, aren't ya?

Well, many of the other weather outlets called for "mostly rain with a little ice N & W" last week, but we wound up with over 1/4" of ice...so I'll believe it when the Capital Weather Gang sings.

I don't want to be a pessimist, but living HERE will do that to you.

I'd say 3 inches at this time, still snowing. Everything is white....

The deck and nearby roofs have turned white in the last 30 minutes. Light snow in McLean as we enter what looks to be our final band of precip for the evening.

Any update on the storm for Friday? Temps, precip amount, precip type, etc.?

"Wimpy Wimpy Wimpy" describes the clipper here in Loudoun. A few flurries around one o'clock or so, then cloudy. Finally started snowing again at around 4:20. White spots here and there in the grass and mulch... other than that nothing. How depressing.

Seems that most forecasts are too warm on Friday... models must be having trouble with CAD again.

3.5in on grassy surfaces here in calvert county!!! woooo!!

still mod-heavy snow

Snowlover, I think it should be mostly frozen(frozen not snow) in DC, all frozen north and maybe some rain but still mostly frozen to the south, starting as 2-4 inches of snow overnight thursday and early morning friday.

A slight dusting here -- ending now :(

Just measured the snow on my deck...3 inches. To bad little stuck on my street!

Must be nice in Annapolis.

I'm happy. We had enough snow fall here in Alexandria for a pretty walk, and the ground is mostly covered. Hoping for the best for Thursday....

coming down here in NWDC we might have a half inch, no more. starting to stick to roads and sidewalk. when will the next update be on the upcoming storm CWG? anxiously await it. looking to me like 2-5 then sleet/freezing rain. not a nice combination. jesse

Here's to hoping Friday's storm wimps out like this one did for western FFX. I've had it with icy commutes. Time to "spring" forward.

It's not even precipitating here in beautiful Silver Spring.

okay, i take that back. we got the advertised "dusting." in the last 30 minutes! good for annapolis, so many times all they get is rain rain rain while the rest of us get the good stufff :)

A few more flakes falling now in Alexandria :)

I SAY 2-3 INCHES TOMORROW NIGHT! :) GO SNOW

Okay, so nobody is mentioning it and I already know the answer, but someone has to say something ;)

*begin whiny tone*

Where's the schoolcast!?!?!? Will we have school on time tomorrow?!?!?!?

*end whiny tone*

I know darn well most everyone will have school on time tomorrow. I am just in shock nobody had asked yet, so I had to take the liberty ;P

One Symbol to describe this: :(

It's sad to be wishing for snow from a lil' ole clipper. If tomorrow night through Saturday will be ice, lets wish for a big ice storm. It seems that all this area gets is ice anymore...

looking at today's radar loop, it looks like there was a "DC split" except that the split was centered over the NW suburbs.

Some breaks in the clouds as the lunar eclipse gets going... part of moon going dark now.

Have 3.5 inches here in Edgewater..just south of Annapolis!! Woo hoo!!

NAM looks like some nice rain for the dc area....mmmmm nice. i hate this.

totally clear, a good look at the lunar eclipse.

Nice coating of snow here, none on the sidewalks and streets in west end alexandria.

Daffodlls 2.5 inches, rosemary blooming, day to day its late winter or early spring.

Well according to the nam i think here in Herndon we get 3 inches of snow, followed by A LOT of ice..

winter storm watch issued for MD, VA, DC area. seem to be ignoring the NAM, hoping they are right

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
1007 PM EST WED FEB 20 2008

DCZ001-MDZ003>007-009>011-013-014-502-VAZ025>031-036>042-050>056-
WVZ050>053-055-502-504-211000-
/O.NEW.KLWX.WS.A.0003.080222T0200Z-080223T1100Z/
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-WASHINGTON-FREDERICK MD-CARROLL-
NORTHERN BALTIMORE-HARFORD-MONTGOMERY-HOWARD-SOUTHERN BALTIMORE-
PRINCE GEORGES-ANNE ARUNDEL-CENTRAL AND EASTERN ALLEGANY-AUGUSTA-
ROCKINGHAM-SHENANDOAH-FREDERICK VA-PAGE-WARREN-CLARKE-NELSON-
ALBEMARLE-GREENE-MADISON-RAPPAHANNOCK-FAUQUIER-LOUDOUN-ORANGE-
CULPEPER-PRINCE WILLIAM/MANASSAS/MANASSAS PARK-FAIRFAX-
ARLINGTON/FALLS CHURCH/ALEXANDRIA-STAFFORD-SPOTSYLVANIA-HAMPSHIRE-
MORGAN-BERKELEY-JEFFERSON-HARDY-EASTERN GRANT-EASTERN MINERAL-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...WASHINGTON...HAGERSTOWN...FREDERICK...
WESTMINSTER...GAITHERSBURG...COLUMBIA...BALTIMORE...ANNAPOLIS...
CUMBERLAND...STAUNTON...WAYNESBORO...HARRISONBURG...WINCHESTER...
FRONT ROYAL...CHARLOTTESVILLE...LEESBURG...CULPEPER...MANASSAS...
MANASSAS PARK...FAIRFAX...ALEXANDRIA...FALLS CHURCH...
FREDERICKSBURG...MARTINSBURG...CHARLES TOWN...PETERSBURG...
KEYSER...FORT ASHBY
1007 PM EST WED FEB 20 2008

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY EVENING THROUGH
LATE FRIDAY NIGHT...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A
WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY EVENING
THROUGH LATE FRIDAY NIGHT.

LOW PRESSURE ACROSS THE GULF OF MEXICO WILL BEGIN SPREAD SNOW ACROSS
THE MID ATLANTIC REGION THURSDAY NIGHT. AS WARMER AIR ALOFT MOVES
INTO THE AREA ON FRIDAY...SNOW IS EXPECTED TO MIX WITH THEN CHANGE
TO SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN. THIS NEXT STORM COULD BE A HIGH
IMPACT EVENT...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW
AND...OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS.

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT
SNOW...SLEET...OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL.
CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.