George BM

Same experience here in Herndon, VA yesterday afternoon in the sun with a moment of no wind. "Kinda nice actually..." It was 19F.

Saturday, February 14, 2026 1:28PM EST Blizzard Warning in effect from 5PM EST Saturday, February 14, 2026 until 4AM EST Sunday, February 15, 2026. Cold Weather Advisory in effect from 9PM EST Saturday, February 14, 2026 until 9AM EST Sunday, February 15, 2026. Showers and thunderstorms have started popping up along the cold front along I-81 in Maryland and extending down into northwestern VA. These will get more organized and quickly move east across the region with the front cruising through. With MLCAPE approaching 500 J/kg owing to the cooling mid-levels above surface temperatures and dewpoints into the low/mid 60s and upper 40s/low 50s respectively, some hail, perhaps marginally severe, as well as strong/damaging wind gusts will accompany these storms. This is in response to a very strong and compact, cold shortwave diving out of the northwest. As we get into the late afternoon and evening hours this shortwave will be strongly interacting with the frontal boundary that will be over our eastern areas during this time. As a result, a surface low will explosively deepen over southern MD as increasingly heavy anafrontal precip blossoms over the entire region as very strong lift underneath impressive upper-level divergence overspreads the region. Rain will quickly change over to snow as precip becomes heavy and as much colder air behind the front surges in. The deepening low will not be moving much as it phases in with the shortwave allowing bands of very to extremely heavy snow to organize over the region west of the Chesapeake Bay. This will also increase the surface pressure gradient leading to strong/damaging NW winds gusting up to the 55 to 65mph range. Continued strong CAA through the evening will allow temps to drop into the upper teens in most areas, especially as the storm starts pull east later tonight, dropping windchills to near 5F below zero. All in all, with 3 to 5+ inch/hr snowfall rates and sustained winds over 40mph w/ up to 65mph wind gusts reducing visibilities to 200 feet or less at times over the course of roughly 5 to 7 hours, this will far exceed the threshold for blizzard conditions. Sensible weather-wise this will be similar in magnitude to the Presidents Day Storm of 1979 with the two noticeable differences being the most intense blizzard conditions occurring over the immediate DC metro area and the fact that it is very warm leading up to this storm. The pre-storm warmth will mean that there is the added danger of initially wet pavement and roads freezing over once temperatures drop below freezing making for dangerous travel conditions. After midnight the compact storm will pull east-southeastwards allowing snow to end from west to east. Snowfall totals will range from 18-24 inches across most of the region with localized spots getting up to 30 inches, particularly higher windward elevations north and west as well as any areas that get stuck under a heavy snow band. With the high winds associated with the storm, however, snow drifts could be as high as 12 to 15 feet in some spots.

Cold.

11/30/2025: T (A mix of rain/sleet from the 4am hour through about 9am. Intensity got up to light/moderate intensity at times. Temps: low/mid 30s 12/02/2025: T (Probably had a brief period of sleet w/ rain sometime between 4:30am and 5am when precip started before quickly changing to a cold rain that became moderate at times during the morning.) 12/05-06/2025: 1.4" (Flurries/very light snow starting in the 4am hour intensifying to light snow between 6am and 10am (light/moderate at times). Flurries to very light snow showers continuing through the rest of the morning ending during the 12pm hour. ETA: Another few bursts of sometimes moderate snow with big aggregates between 10:30pm and around midnight or so dropping an additional 0.2".) 12/11/2025: T (A few flakes in the air during the morning on a northwesterly surface wind.) 12/14/2025: 0.9" (Mixed rain/snow starting after midnight on the 14th, changing over to snow sometime during the 3am hour and lasting through about 6:30am. Snow was moderate at times between 4am and 5:45am. It was graupelly in consistency.) 12/26/2025: T (A mix of light rain/sleet between 10:30am and 12pm. It was briefly freezing rain/sleet as temps fell to 31F during the precip.) 1/01/2026: 0.1" (A squall of heavy snow blew through between 5:18am and 5:35am with visibilities dropping to <= 1/4 mile briefly between 5:21am and 5:25am. Note: could have been 0.2" but the wind 25-30mph gusts made it difficult to tell.) 1/11/2026: T (A few wet flakes with a dying snow/graupel squall around 1:30-1:45pm.) 1/17/2026: 0.4" (Flakes started falling around 8:45am. At 8:48am intensity rapidly jumped from flurries to moderate+ within 15 seconds. Between 9-9:05am the snow was fairly heavy at times. Snow tapered off to flurries by 9:15am. There was a snow/graupel mix that briefly got up to light/moderate intensity around 10am. Snow/graupel tapered off by 10:30am as the last flakes concluded.) 1/18/2026: T (Off and on light rain, probably mixed in with mangled flakes predawn (1:30am-6:30am). An afternoon round of flurries between 4 and 5pm.) 1/24-25/2026: 8.0" (Flurries starting in the 11pm hour on the 24th intensifying into a light snowfall after midnight. Snow becoming moderate at times through the predawn hours. Some moderate+ rates in the 6am hour, then light/moderate through 7:30am when sleet mixes in. Back and forth between sleet and snow/sleet mix through 8:10am when sleet takes over for good. Sleet was moderate at times with snow grains mixed in throughout the morning. Waves of heavy sleet moved through during the afternoon (mainly between 1:30pm and 4pm). Sleet continued in light/moderate intensity afterwards until 5:30pm when it became light. Light sleet continued until precip wrapped up around 7pm. Snow grains were mixed in w/ the sleet (especially before 3pm.)) Snow totals as of January 26th, 2026: 10.8"

Airport storm totals updated this evening: DCA: 6.8" IAD: 7.8" BWI: 11.1"

IAD (Dulles Int'l Airport) is currently at 2.02" qpf for this event. Over 2 inches of qpf all frozen. Wet storm.

11/30/2025: T (A mix of rain/sleet from the 4am hour through about 9am. Intensity got up to light/moderate intensity at times. Temps: low/mid 30s 12/02/2025: T (Probably had a brief period of sleet w/ rain sometime between 4:30am and 5am when precip started before quickly changing to a cold rain that became moderate at times during the morning.) 12/05-06/2025: 1.4" (Flurries/very light snow starting in the 4am hour intensifying to light snow between 6am and 10am (light/moderate at times). Flurries to very light snow showers continuing through the rest of the morning ending during the 12pm hour. ETA: Another few bursts of sometimes moderate snow with big aggregates between 10:30pm and around midnight or so dropping an additional 0.2".) 12/11/2025: T (A few flakes in the air during the morning on a northwesterly surface wind.) 12/14/2025: 0.9" (Mixed rain/snow starting after midnight on the 14th, changing over to snow sometime during the 3am hour and lasting through about 6:30am. Snow was moderate at times between 4am and 5:45am. It was graupelly in consistency.) 12/26/2025: T (A mix of light rain/sleet between 10:30am and 12pm. It was briefly freezing rain/sleet as temps fell to 31F during the precip.) 1/01/2026: 0.1" (A squall of heavy snow blew through between 5:18am and 5:35am with visibilities dropping to <= 1/4 mile briefly between 5:21am and 5:25am. Note: could have been 0.2" but the wind 25-30mph gusts made it difficult to tell.) 1/11/2026: T (A few wet flakes with a dying snow/graupel squall around 1:30-1:45pm.) 1/17/2026: 0.4" (Flakes started falling around 8:45am. At 8:48am intensity rapidly jumped from flurries to moderate+ within 15 seconds. Between 9-9:05am the snow was fairly heavy at times. Snow tapered off to flurries by 9:15am. There was a snow/graupel mix that briefly got up to light/moderate intensity around 10am. Snow/graupel tapered off by 10:30am as the last flakes concluded.) 1/18/2026: T (Off and on light rain, probably mixed in with mangled flakes predawn (1:30am-6:30am). An afternoon round of flurries between 4 and 5pm.) Snow totals as of January 18th, 2026: 2.8" Update on current Jan 24-25th storm later once frozen precip ceases.

One of the few (well maybe only) positives if you were to end up losing power.

IAD has been at 16 or 17F for the past 4 1/2 hours now. Just reluctant to rise. 16F for the 3pm hourly ob there.

Meanwhile IAD (Dulles Int'l Airport) is at only 16F as of 2pm.

I'm just happy that posters like you in northern MD are finally experiencing a nice 6"+ event after so many years. Enjoy!

Can confirm. Sleet here in Herndon now. Measured 4.8" before the filp.

Already down to 17F w/a -6F dewpoint and 1F windchill at IAD. It be COLD.

Went to an event in Tysons Corner tonight and a lot of people there were talking about how we are about to see over 2 feet of snow or 23 inches based on what their phone apps showed them.