One word: OVERHYPED. Not so much here but most ALL of the other local mets. WHAT a joke...

Please just say...not much will happen...go to work/school. Then stop with all the excess coverage of much ado about nothing

Here, here -- I ate a day of leave because of what I read both here and heard on the TV this morning. Really upset by the forecasting in this storm!

It would almost be worth giving up the ability to comment on CWG so we don't have to scroll through comments like the two above.

One might say the same about yours, Rob -- I would rather read WHY people are upset about the forecasting (or lack of it), than to read your critique of comments...

What a bust.

Very disappointed. From a Winter Storm Warning last night for 3 inches of snow and 0.25 inches of ice, to nothing this morning.

And when I say nothing, I literally mean nothing.

I still don't understand how hundreds of meteorologists, and several weather stations can get a forecast this horribly wrong.

This is the winter that never was. I don't think DC has even seen a total of 5 inches for the season. And it's hardly been cold too.

Last week in February now. Guess winter is over. But then again, it never really began.

Bring on May and end of school, warm temperatures, BBQs, and swimming, I say...

This has to rank as one of the worst winters (in terms of cold and snow) of the last 20 years, surely?

This was probably just an advisory-worthy storm from the get-go. Hindsight is always 20/20, though.

"I still don't understand how hundreds of meteorologists, and several weather stations can get a forecast this horribly wrong."

You're right: you don't understand. None of us understand, really. Weather forecasting isn't an exact science, so get used to it.

Seems like people have a hard time getting this.

i missed the live chat, but i this is the best weather site i know of. i love that so many of the commenters are so knowledgeable too. i'm not a meteorology student (i am an architect, and all-too-infrequently, a snow sculptor...), but i do love science and understanding things so the technical discussions are great.

i was so sick of hearing on the t.v. news, "bad weather coming our way" when they're talking about a snowstorm. i used to look to the weather report on t.v. for facts, not the weatherman's (and sportscaster's) editorializing about whether he likes the weather... i don't even watch them anymore.

when i found capweather, what struck me about this site was that they consider a snowstorm "good weather." so maybe it's not so much the tv guys' editorializing i didn't like as much as that i disagreed with their opinions about snow....

so, moving on, when is our next snowstorm coming?

30F here, haven't gone above freezing all day. My street this morning was a sheet of ice, that was at 7am, by 10am the streets were clear but the sidewalks were still ice covered. Looks like some precip is try to move in from the south/southwest we'll have to see how that goes.

Honestly, I don't think we hyped this. We reported the warnings and advisories of the National Weather Service and provided our own informed commentary.

We never said this was going to be a crippling storm -- we assigned it 2.5 flakes -- which is something in between a minor and a major event.

At the end of the day, it snowed a little less than we thought and we basically got the ice part right. The impact of the ice just wasn't that bad because roads were salted and daylight came

I hope it snows, so that I can amass the biggest snowball that man has EVER SEEN!!! Then I'm going to hurl it at my neighbor.

By the way: For all who were concerned, I located my remote. Krypto; that's my pet kangaroo, had it hidden in her pouch. She's one crafty marsupial.

Wow. Comments about comments about comments. CapWxG is reaching meta-explosion type levels.

I think you guys did a pretty good job with this one. It was apparent from yesterday's coverage that this wasn't President's Day III. I think the Gang brought that out well.

Schools and the like still needed to close, though. A degree or two lower for a couple hours this morning could have left all kinds of kids stranded on the side of the road.

Unfortunately, I made it to work this morning. I'm comforted in knowing that today is the first day of the year with over 11 hours of daylight. Summer is almost here.

In addition to people not being able to get how inexact forecasting is as a science, people also seem completely unable to grasp the reality of our climate in the DC Area. This storm was perfectly typical - we were right on the line between snow, ice and rain, and we got a little of each.

This is winter in DC! It's not a terrible year - its just another year. Move to Maine if it is so bad!!!

Where is the snow?

When can we start expecting our school systems to stop canceling school because of rain or minor snow events? Cancel busses if you have to and allow "unscheduled leave" for the kids who's parents can't provide transportation. We allow school to get canceled based on "forecasts". I'd personally like a tax refund for each day the school system "decides" not to show for work. If a small business decides to "cancel", no revenue comes in that day.

I'm not upset with the forecasting, Washington storms are tricky. I'm upset with the response our region has trained itself for these types of things.

"Unscheduled leave" Are you kidding me? No one would come to school, that's one of the worst ideas I've ever heard. Either cancel or stay open, its not that hard.

Weatherbug says 32 and my thermometers (which are against the building, mind you) say 37. It's just drizzle right now. Most if not all of the ice has melted.

I would say that you guys were pretty right on with the forecast. WTG CWG.

Yep, I think we made it through the Winter ok.

There were was some really cold days this year, just aligned with precip., so no major snow storms.

Just one week to go to March then time for Spring!!!

Just got an "emergency weather email" saying that the advisories for a few of the S & W counties are cancelled:

VAZ021-025>027-029-030-036>038-050-056-057-WVZ054-222130-
/O.CAN.KLWX.WW.Y.0007.000000T0000Z-080223T0300Z/
HIGHLAND-AUGUSTA-ROCKINGHAM-SHENANDOAH-PAGE-WARREN-NELSON-
ALBEMARLE-GREENE-ORANGE-SPOTSYLVANIA-KING GEORGE-PENDLETON-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF.STAUNTON.WAYNESBORO.HARRISONBURG.
FRONT ROYAL.CHARLOTTESVILLE.FREDERICKSBURG
320 PM EST FRI FEB 22 2008

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS CANCELLED.

THE NATL WEATHER SVC IN STERLING VA HAS CANCELLED
THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY.

TEMPS HAVE RISEN ABOVE FREEZING & PRECIPITATION HAS ENDED
IN MOST LOCALES.

$$

Post Storm Thuughts:

1) We got the "DC split" and since phasing never really got close to happening, first slug of moisture stayed mostly north as primary low(warm advection) held on for a while and coastal storm just really forming this afternoon, so we get a little residual moisture from that.

2) I'd rather be a little more ominous about ice in the forecast and err on the side of caution. At times, we have to forecast based on psychology as well as meteorology.

3) I did post yesterday why I felt that roads would generally be O.K. Drawn out event means crews can stay ahead of the game.

4) I also posted that we'd all learn something new.

5) As stated earlier, we on TV also report the "official" warnings/advisories. Topper verbalized the possibility yesterday evening. I hit it some in the afternoon on radio and here on this board.

6) I was a little surprised that the changeover occured by 3 am in most areas, I thought the snow would last a few more hours beyond that. So snow totals were over forecast.

Thanks for indulging me and have a nice day!

CWG,
Is there any other chance of a snowfall before March 20th?

WUSA TV 9 - You guys rock!

DCA has seen .29" so far for the event through 4pm ob.

Would you rather the forecast said "Oh it will be fine" then you get stuck in the ice on the way home? They can be wrong both ways. Better to err on the side of caution then just blithely assume all will be well since they are usually wrong.

As for unscheduled leave for students -- umm, who makes sure the students make up the work that is missed???? If some students show up, they get that day's lessons while the kids whose parents can't get them in don't. Why not keep everyone on the same learning day? It's not a matter of giving the teachers a day off.

weatherdudeVA:
I am very happy to see that the NWS is finally catching on to reality. I have been above freezing since 10 am. Noon- 40F, 3pm- 45F, 4pm- 44F.

The Nowcast issued by NWS at 1:11pm assured everyone that the central Shenandoah Valley would hover around 32F throughout the afternoon with the WWA in effect through 10 pm.

Since early this morning, I have received only one very light shower around 1 pm. Total for the Winter Storm was .02!!

At Old Dominion Wildlife HQ, the high temp today was 31.8F and is now back down to 29.1F. Compared with the previous three ice storms this season, this one appears to have generated less ice accumulation so far. With no serious winds forecasted, I expect the power will stay on. For those interested, here's a picture of a fox taken during today's weather: http://olddominionwildlife.com

Nice pic SP Gass, got a few of those critters around here, very rare to see them though...always enjoy your pics, also kudos to you for getting Topper's "Best Shot" the other night!

Thanks, Blue Ridge Mike, you've posted some nice ones as well. I just happened to look out the window at the right time.

Howard-- Your thoughts are spot on. Thanks for sharing.

The only DC/MD/NoVA stations below freezing @ 5:00:
Cumberland 30
Hagerstown 29

I tend to think of weather forecasting as being kind of like trying to predict where the balls are going to end up after the "break" in a pool game. The final position of the balls following this opening shot is determined by thousands of random interactions between different balls and the sides of the table. If Ball A happens to run into Ball B, that affects whether B does or does not collide with Ball C, which then affects whether C happens to run into D or E or F and so on and so on. In the same way, weather results from a lot of random interactions between different elements in the atmosphere (pressures, temps, winds, geographical features) only a small fraction of which we are able to capture in our readings and computer models. So I think forecasters generally deserve credit for being as accurate as they are.

With the possibility of fog tonight and temperatures possibly dropping below freezing, it seems like there should be the possibliity of freezing fog (or what we used to call "pogonip" back home). While it's not as nice as snow, it often leaves a nice white crust on all the trees and shrubs for when we wake up in the morning.

This is a great site, one I've been reading for several years. I always come here when storms approach, no matter the season.

As I predicted, this was a squall, a bust, which closed PW Schools, primarily because a small icy patch was discovered outside a 7-11 in Bristow.

We live in the 21st Century. We command millions of dollars at the click of a mouse. Why are we so overly excited about a snowflake, an ice patch? I'll tell you why: because we are bored. We are bored with our lives, and a little weather makes us interested again.

Good night, until the next storm!

I'm brokenhearted to have missed Jason's live chat today! Just read the transcript. Where else but CWG could we get the most accurate range of forecast possibilities, including confidence levels, well into the night - and then have the team's chief met chatting online at noon the next day?

I thought the CWG forecast was as accurate as anyone could have gotten it. Will we see a post-mortem on this one?

Camp Fredericksburg: That same slick patch in Bristow must have closed the other 40 some-odd school districts in the area too, eh? :P

Back at 32.5 degrees here in Lake Ridge. Last I checked it was pretty foggy out. I don't think I've ever seen freezing fog before. This should be interesting.

"At the end of the day, it snowed a little less than we thought and we basically got the ice part right. The impact of the ice just wasn't that bad because roads were salted and daylight came"

You can't be serious. I live in what you would call "north and west" suburbs and I didn't see the first flake of snow and the only ice that I saw was on the roof of my car. My street was never salted nor were the main streets in my area and they were simply wet.

How much was the ice amount around there? A lot are saying the winter storm warning was unwarranted, but remember in most places the warning criteria for ice is 0.25" of accretion. I would bet at least some parts of the metro saw that, thus justifying the warning to at least some extent.

The main bust, then, would be in going with a winter storm warning instead of the more specific ice storm warning. Which, in the grand scheme of things, was not that big a bust.

bob ryan, topper shutt, doug hill.....all are part of the marketing department, not weather. they get everyone fired up and we watch tv to find out how bad it will be. because of this they have higher ratings and can charge more for advertising. if you want the real forcast go to noaa.gov.

its obvious they each want a good storm. 55 and partly cloudy is boring to report.

wxman, you sound bitter. somebody wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

have we seen our last chance of snow this year?