Half an hour ago I happened to wake up. The sound I heard was of sleet or freezing rain falling steadily. The walk and driveway outside my door looks icey. It looks like eastern Silver Spring saw very little snow overnight. I'm hoping that the changeover to rain will happen soon.

I'll sum the school closings up:

If you're a student in the immediate DC metro area put your PJs back on and go to bed. Everyone is closed, pretty much. Except for DC, thanks to Mayor Fenty's be everywhere at all times approach. Wow that would suck.

As far as I can tell it isn't doing anything in Lake Ridge, but you can't really see rain in the dark, so it might be freezing raining.

I'm going back to bed. Good morning-night everyone.

Um, why is EVERYONE closed except DCPS? I'm confused.

BUST!

Every school is closed between my front door and my office. That's good enough for me. :-P Unfortunately, I had to wake up at 5:30 to determine this, and I have an awful time going back to sleep once I'm up.

dcteacherchic: because mayor fenty is on top of things and got all of the roads quickly, or at least that's how the news is portraying it.

J - How was it a bust if they're still expecting 1/4" of ice today?

Oi... I woke up at 4:30 to check the delays and was about to scream my head off, until I refreshed the page at 4:35 and thre was a closing. Now I'm happy. To all who said it was a bust, how come every school nearby is closed?

weatherdude, that's bull. Even Catholic University is closed. If colleges close, elementary schools should.

Let us know how the conditions are where you live, and if you commuted, how the roads are...

Looks like a combination of sleet and freezing rain in Lake Ridge. Coming down at a good clip.

In Springfield - not sure how much fell overnight, but right now the only thing on the ground and my car is a layer of ice, and it's still sleeting.

I can't believe that DC Public schools are opening on time today, or even opening at all. Don't the people in charge of these decisions realize that A) Most children have to WALK on the ICEY sidewalks to get to school and B) many teachers and staff members have to drive in from outside of the district in order to get to school? I can't believe DCPS is risking such safety issues.

A trace of snow fell over night here in Ashburn. I did hear sleet around 3:45 am and now we have just semi-freezing drizzle (freezing part seems to depend on surface). Walkway to to the townhouse is icy but street and parking lot is just wet. About to make the commute to Falls Church.

NBC4 reporting some close--in areas (e.g. Arlington) already have 1/8" of ice accumulation.

Woke up earlier to a trace of snow. Was expecting school but MCPS actually decided to jump on the closed bandwagon this time.
Have yet to check conditions since around 3:30 when I woke up. Planning on hunkering down, maybe lighting a fire in the fire place in a bit. Good to have the day off.

My drive from the mountains to the monuments wasn't to bad. Took me 30 mins as opposed to the usual 10 to get off the mountain. Some light snow about 10pm last night but by 330am it was sleet and freezing rain....66 to TR bridge to DC wasn't to bad.....going home back UP the mountain will be a challenge....

Here in G'burg the grass is white from sleet, the untreated blacktop is covered in a crunchy layer, but the streets are just wet - mainly due to the fact that all of the streets are still covered in a layer of salt from Wednesday's non-event.

Thankfully the schools did close which gave me a "told you to so" to my wife. ( Close call though!)

mape, thank you. I walk UP HILL from the bus stop to my school, and I am very scared. I fell twice during the last ice storm.

This mornong I woke up and notice that DC public is the only school open.As the Mayor he really suck, I bet his kids are not in school today. But we have to send our kids through this weather. Like I tell everybody I did't vote for him and can't stand him. A person from DC would understand but no he don't. He a sicken individual and I don't care for him. CLOSE DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS CLOWN.

Only a trace of snow in Alexandria fell, mostly before midnight. However, everything outside does look wet/icey. Can't really tell until the night lifts how bad it is.

I drove from Germantown to Rockville this morning, and I-270 and most of the side roads I was on were just wet. My parking lot was icy, which proved more difficult to walk on than drive.

Thankfully, the salt trucks that were out for the fairly non event on Wednesday appear to have really helped us this morning. Hopefully they can keep it up throughout the remainder of the day.

E,

Judging by your post, you could use a little more time with the schools open...

Chesapeake Beach - MD. No (new) snow (some leftover from the 2 inches on Wednesday). Thin sheen of ice on all surfaces (car window, sidewalk, grass).

Well being as I moved here in December from Missoula, Montana to Bowie, Maryland, I didn't see a problem with the weather. MOST everyone was driving carefully and the main roads were just wet although the sidewalks are a bit slick.

Dc schools.....I feel for ya dcteacherchic, but I've lived in this area my entire life.....and DC schools just don't close, never have....PDII, Blizz 96, Isabel...other then that, it's always been far and few between....oh, last I checked, Fentey's kids attend public school.

My thanks to Jason and the entire CWG Team for their dedication to ensuring the best forecasts and nowcasts possible, through the night and early in the morning. My team and I make decisions about whether to telecommute based on the information CWG provides.

Just drove from arlington to springfield - 395/95 sb were just wet, no ice, same with the streets I drove on in arlington, and traffic was light. 395/95 NB looked to be moving easy as well. My car had slushy ice on the windshield, but nothing was frozen solid.

Near the city limits of Takoma Park in Silver Spring: Very fine bits of precipitation are falling slowly and silently onto the sleet and freezing rain that has coated my yard.

Can anyone comment on the current state of the roads in Alexandria? I have to commute from there to Bethesda area in Maryland, taking 95-N and 495-N. Updates?

Thanks again for the help CWG, this blog is invaluable!

Not surprised to hear the commute in isn't too bad. Course, the freezing rain is just kind of getting started, so I expect the evening commute to be a little tougher as the ice builds up a little.

Still looks like an awfully big dry area on the radar that's coming our way. Is rain/sleet expected to build into that area today, or are we looking at the other area of precip over Kentucky?

I drove this AM from Columbia to Hyattsville. No problems at all.

That's one of the largest dry slots I've ever seen during a storm like this, lol. The models seem to account for this, but and don't fill it in all that much. It also looks like they anticipate the precip over Kentucky won't get over the mountains. All in all, bout another .25-.5 inches of precip (GFS is a bit juicier)

And the good 'ole University of Maryland is opening at 11am today. Hopefully the sidewalks won't be too bad.

Drove in from Ashburn to Falls Church. Greenway, Dulles Toll Road, 495 all perfectly fine. Went full speed the whole way and got here in very little time since not many others were on the road. Truth is, there really isn't even any visible ice on the trees (at least not as much as last week).

I live near Kingstowne/Ft. Belvoir... It's Icey outside, mainly on my steps, and some sidewalks... The grass is glazed pretty good... My dog doesn't like it, she took two steps... slid a bit, then turned around and went back in the house... Well, I'm about to make my commute downstairs to my computer to tele-work....

CWG - Should I be worried about my commute? Will my commute away from my desk be more dangerous?

I'm staying home today. I have to work about four blocks from Union Station to my office on First Street over pavement that is rarely sanded or salted. At my age, it's just not worth falling, which has happened in previous years. Metro is the not the issue for me, the walk is.

My NW DC neighborhood is not so bad. The streets were pre-treated so the side street that I live on is wet pavement. The sidewalks on the north side of the street are also just wet except for around the manholes. I see nothing wrong with the DC schools being open. Gotta go get the kids ready.

Ok, so I postponed my flight to WV in order to see my hubby to next weekend. However looking at the weather maps should I try for later today instead?

Well, it certainly appears like winter storm warnings should NOT have been posted at all..I know Cap Team doesnt issue the warnings....I always thought Winter Storm warnings were issued when "significant" amounts of precipitation were to impact a high area...This didnt happen. I hope they can fine tune these predictions in the future. I cancelled a huge work conference because of the "Warnings" flew.

Wow I can't believe the small minded people who are ranting about the DC public schools being opened and attacking the mayor. The streets in DC are fine, if the sidewalks are slippery then be careful, and people.....deal with it. If you are actually a DC student or a teacher, which I doubt, then stay home if you think it is too dangerous.

Roads are basically fine now, we all agree. NW of the city we stay sub zero all day, so how will things look when the big/more QPF hits?

Thoughts?

Besides, is it even the Mayor's call to open? I'm pretty sure the of decision to open is made by the Superintendent and/or another school system executive. At UMD, for example, the decision to open is made by the Provost, not the President (or the Governor!).

Just explored Alexandria, sidewalks and such are icey (but not as bad as they were last Tuesday @ 8pm), roads are mostly wet. Coats are coated with ice.

here in bethesda, dusting of snow + 1/2 inch of sleet. Feel bad for DC kids. How much more precip. is expected and when?

Shortest commute from Springfield to Reston this week - 30 minutes door to door. Beltway volume is significantly lighter, roads seem fine - mix of rain and sleet that lessened as I headed north.

As of 7:52, DCA is 33 degrees-->plain old rain.

moco is closed. finally

VA:
A Winter Storming warning/watch is issued for significant Snow or ICE. Since we are expecting up to .25 inches of ice, that's pretty significant. We were only expecting 1-3 inches of snow anyway, its the ice that was more of a concern.

So the warning was justified, and if you notice, they haven't taken it down yet.

Again, the commute home will be more interesting, after this stuff has had a chance to really fall.

We'll see. But as always, better safe than sorry.

Winter may be over now as far as snow is concerned. We may see some flakes here and there. GFS doesnt look promising into early March..Our only shot is a soutnern storm holding for 3/5..Right now we are too warm but it does look like a close call if it pans out.

It looks like the weather people blew it again. We were supposed to wake up to a winter wonderland this morning. Instead it's just a cold rain. At least the dire forecasts allowed me to breeze into work this morning. I salute the DC school system for apparently being the only school system in the area that made the right decision.

all of you calling this a bust, just stop
first time moco has closed schools all year and more precip is expected.

you people just dont get it, MORE PRECIP. IS EXPECTED, IN THE FORM OF FREZZING RAIN FOR MOST PLACES IN THE DC METRO AREA

Mart-- at least in NW DC, the parking lot outside my window is a sheet of ice--completely covered. Freezing rain has been falling for hours

I don't think we were supposed to wake up this morning in a winter wonderland. I have been under the impression from the forecasting here that at most there would be an inch on the ground when I woke up, and before I went to bed that was even sounding iffy.

All along forecasters have been saying that the majority of the precip would fall today in the form of freezing rain.

This was never going to be a pretty and fluffy storm.

The Advisory vs Warning question is interesting. We graded this as 2.5 flake impact, which is just below warning criteria in our estimation. However, the Weather Service erred on the side of caution and went with a warning, so we have been reporting that. This was a borderline situation and I can understand the NWS decision especially in light of last week's fiasco.

about 1/4 inch of snow here in bethesda. Very dissapointed. Is there any other chance of snow accumulating to 4 in this year. Poss. 3 in. this was a very dissapointing winter. Does anyone agree?

Is this freezing rain expected to continue throughout the day?

WOOOOHOOO NO School!!!! =))))

But no snow as well. =(((

Guys, the Winter Storm Warning is until 10pm tonight for a reason.

@mart: The warning was issued for the ice that was (and still is) expected fall during the day today. Don't be so critical.

Mart, I would also note that most outlets (including this one) had called for snow to have ended by sunrise, so that you awoke to just a cold rain (that was likely freezing on impact) shouldn't have been a suprise. You probably didn't awaken to as much snow as you had expected, but that is what it is.

How bad does everyone think the ice will get during the day? night?

Here in Vienna, our backyard thermometer reads 32 on the dot, and the conditions are all over the place. We have some slick spots on the sidewalk and steps, the driveway is slushy, ice is melting off the roof and the road is clear. Steady stream of water in the gutters even with nothing falling from the sky.

Looks like it's going to be hit or miss, but I don't doubt we have plenty of untreated roads with nasty spots in the area.

Jbroon,

I agree that certain areas are being affected by ice so WSW should remain in effect for those areas. After watching the news and reading many of the posts...The roads appear to be mostly wet. Down in where I live Stafford, it just rained. They held the WSW until late last night. It swithced to an WW advisory overnight...

In my opinion, many folks should have been under a winer weatehr advisory, not WSW...and us folks down in Safford to Richmod, advisory's need to be removed, it never iced besides a few sleet stones around 8 p.m. last night.

Channel 5 weather just mentioned 'frozen fog'. Does anybody know what frozen fog is?

Not my intent to rub it in towards the Cap Weather Gang but this is two times in two days that I predicted no snow for my area based on the radar screen. People wanted to argue with me but this moring I woke up to nothing in NW Montgomery when 1-2 inches were predicted. Its really not that hard to watch the expanded view of our area and figure out what is coming and whats not coming. Right now I would say that I have at least several hours of dry weather heading my way.

Getting above freezing here in Arlington.

No problems at all commuting this morning. Cleaning off the car took only a few minutes, and Bel Pre Road (between Norbeck and Georgia) and Georgia Ave on the way to Glenmont Metro were mostly just wet. Some slushiness between lanes on Georgia, but manageable if you just take your time and keep your distance (a lot to ask in this area, I know).

Hopefully the evening commute won't be worse.

For crying out loud, can't we just accept that this "storm" is a dud and the forecasters got it wrong. Looks like a mild, drizzly day ahead. Gonna be a boring day for the kids to be out of school (except for the D.C. children).

This storm will under perform as compared to the Capx forecast. This is basically a rain storm that had a few hours of frozen precip to begin with. Not a winter storm by any means. Temps will be above freezing by 10:00 am (not 6:00 pm) almost everywhere except the far western and northern counties.

Prince William County Parkway from Manassas to Woodbridge was just a wet road. Easy drive to work as traffic volume was considerably lower. Looks like yet another bust for this winter.

should i make plans with a friend to drive 1/2 a mile or stay home because of the ice??? think fast!

west end alexandria va

At 830 am, temp 33 and rain with alittle sleet falling.

No slippery places anywhere.

the streets around union station are fine, a little icy in spots, but completely walkable. just rain too.

If that's the case, then I'm DEFINITELY not leaving the house. Cold rain just makes me grumpy.

However, it does not change my afternoon plans of curling up in a blanket and eating soup and watching a movie.

While my husband teaches his disappointed DCPS students.

JT-- We erred in Montgomery Co. Reports from NWS indicate accumulations of 1/4-1/2", whereas we had you in the 1-3" zone but at the very southern edge. So we were basically off by a county. This is an inexact science.

Thanks for the info. Just rebooked the flight to see hubby in WV! Wish me luck!

Huge forecast bust down here. I don't think we even saw any rain - dry as a bone outside this morning. We may still get something from the precip in Kentucky, but by the time it arrives, it'll likely be above freezing. I have to say Augusta Jim called this one.

Also, for information purposes, technically speaking, this isn't a dry slot. Actually, we have two basically separate storms. The northern stream storm, which is going north of Virginia, and the southern stream storm, which is to the south. We are in the dry middle. The jet never phased or even came close to it, so we were left high and dry between the two systems down this way. Glad to hear DC is at least getting something. Congrats to the students on the day off (most of you, anyway).

Live in Fairfax County. Took Metro in from Huntington. Just rain on the drive to the station -- light traffic. More worried about the walk from Metro (Farragut) to my office. No problems -- just a cold wet morning. Ice in tree wells but didn't encounter any on sidewalks or streets. Suspect it will be a quiet day since no one has arrived to join me!

I drove from Springfield to DC and the roads were wet but really not icy. The commute was not bad at all. Walking on the sidewalks could be trickier. It looks like this won't be that bad but the kids haven't had a "snow" day yet (in Fairfax County) so go ahead and give them a day off. The extra days are built into the school calendar.

I work for the federal government and I just got to work and I'm the only one here. Usually my office is packed by 8:30. Liberal leave? Haha!

The ice is accumulating pretty well on the trees and walks here in Annandale. The branches are really starting to droop. I sure hope the power lines hold up...

Temperature up to 31.3 in NW Montgomery. Good sign.

d: Stay home! Follow the plan outlined by Laura in NWDC...she's got the right idea. I'm going to try to commute from Merrifield to Ballston momentarily.

Cap Team, I appreciate your dedication to this event throught the night into this morning. I still think this site is the most informative and correspondence is great with updates. So what if it underpreformed, everything this winter has underpreformed..Guys we are in a La Nina cycle. Typical cycles of La Nina, you can always count on highly unusual,unpredictable weather, which it has certainly been this winter season.. I've heard many comments about terrible forecasting, I could do better myself. If you mart guys are so smart, then I'll expect to see you on TV soon taking over Bob Ryans spot.

job advising us of

left the house in Vienna at 7:30am, roads wet, car was covered in ice but easily scrape-able, drove into DC, dropped hubby off, then to Arlington and at work by 8:10.

Nice coating of ice on everything here. Car, steps, back deck.

I am on the couch with the laptop and will be more than happy to work here.

Wow, a lot of really grumpy people on the blog today. If some of ya'll think you can forecast better than the CWxG, I'd like to see you put your tukus on the line daily and get it perfect. Weather is never, ever set in stone. You rely on maps and models and plain old intuition and try to get the best forecast possible. Sommetimes you hit a home run, sometimes you miss. If you look at all of the weather outlets here in the DC....CGW was a little closer to the mark than they were.

There is a lot more to forecasting that looking at the radar.

Chad,

Me too! Of my branch of 12 people, 11 are off today. Gotta love the fed. gov't.

I think we can all agree that this storm was a big disappointment (except you kids that got off from school). CapWX, you guys did a good job adapting to the forecast throughout.

Looks like temps are rising around the area... I'm guessing we're done with the winter weather, but maybe some places will hold on.

A suggestion for a poll: which local news outlet has the best website? Fox5's was pretty easy to look at last night when I was in storm mode... but nbc4's weatherplus was a mess. Thoughts?

PS: I don't think the folks involved in the 30-car pileup on an icy ramp out in Gaithersburg would think the forecast was a bust. ;)

Drove from Leesburg to Reston - the infamous north-and-west-of-town - light rain with no ice on the roads save for a very thin layer of slush in-between lanes on bridges. The storm is a bust, not so much the forecasts even though they were on the more enthusiastic side. It takes a lot of rain and temps well below freezing to have a real impact on most roads...

Etta,

Freezing fog is a fog condition with temperatures at or below freezing. They put in the "freezing" part to remind people that once the fog condenses on a surface, it has the potential to freeze. Makes more sense to say when there hasn't been precip already freezing on the ground, of course.

Went from Fairfax to Chantilly. Commute was fine, no slippery areas anywhere (except in my office parking lot, of course). Even my home parking area and the service roads were fine, though my deck was a sheet of ice. Basically, be careful of sidewalks and some parking areas, but it seems jsut to be rain at this point.

It certainly has helped that the roads were pretreated across the region, due to the snow a few days ago.

(there's a new post up, by the way!)

Is there something about frozen grass that is good for the birds? My front yard is filled with robins, and some cardinals, and some other unidentified avians. Does the ice on the grass bring up the worms or something? It's kind of creeping me out...

this storm busted

Commuted from Oakton to Ballston. Bus was ontime. Metro was fine. My development had not yet been treated but it was mostly slush, not the sheet of ice like last week.. Roads looked good from what I could see.

Well I guess we are very lucky to have this nice day off.

Here on the west side of Oakton, the icicles continue to grow, but the temperature is up to 31 now so I'm not sure if we'll get much more ice accumulation today. The sidewalks have patches of ice, but the roads seem fine.

It's over. In fact, it never started.

Sterling oughta bring all of their warnings down and we can wait for the next false alarm storm, heh?

Cap Team, As always,I appreciate your dedication to this event throught the night into this morning. I still think this site is by far the best most informative. I enjoy the personal interaction from your team keeping all of us community bloggers up to date.

WISE GUYS: So what if it underpreformed, everything this winter has underpreformed..Guys, we are in a La Nina cycle. In typical cycles of La Nina, you can always count on highly unusual,unpredictable weather, which it has certainly been this winter season.. I've heard many comments about terrible forecasting, I could do better myself. If you guys are so smart, then I'll expect to see you on TV soon taking over Bob Ryan's spot. There is a lot more to forecasting then looking at the damn radar.

I agree its frustrating when storms underpreform. This storm did underpreform due to lack of phasing. When the lack of phasing trend became obvious, Cap Team was right on top of it last night sending us frequent updates and personal corrspondences on the blogs. Hats off to the Cap Team.

In my opinion, this site is heck of a lot better then waiting for the 11 oclock news for updates, or looking at all the pretty little outdated forecast pictures on TWC....;)

I bet if we had one big snowstorm, all the negativity and finger pointing would go away. Lets try not to fingerpoint because we are frustrated it didn't snow. This wasnt gonna be a big event in the first place.

I too support the dedication of CWG. To me, it is really unbelievable how right in DC and its close environs the temperature seems to always float just a degree or two above or below freezing during these storms of late (including last winter), which makes such a difference and I don't know how that can be predicted perfectly. I would note that Bob Ryan did lower expectations significantly during the 6:00 news last night.

I don't understand the fuss over the forecast -- a patch of land that's 31 degrees is going to have different conditions than a patch of land that's 33. My driveway needed some treatment this morning, and I'm sure a few roads are in the same condition.

Murphy's Law dictates that if all the schools were open, we'd have frozen roads and falling power lines as we tried to negotiate an early dismissal.

I appreciate the confidence levels and the detailed forecasts. Good job, guys.

Up to 32.2 in NW Montgomery. For forecasting purposes only.

Kim, I was in that 30 car pile up in Gaithersburg. It wasn't weather related---it had more to do with some horrible driving and the use of a cell phone.

Thank you,John. Didn't know that.