George BM

Well that was a surprisingly decent snow/graupel shower just now. Briefly heavy and it has whitened the grass.

I had a brief and very light snow/graupel shower around 2:30pm (Herndon). 

26 minutes ago, NorthArlington101 said:

Has there been a day this winter where DCA has stayed under freezing?

Not this winter so far OR last winter. Last time was early 2019 IIRC.

Just now, DCTeacherman said:

This has been very noticeable.  As a runner I still haven't had to put on more than a base layer/t shirt combo for a run.   I haven't even been wearing a hat!  Usually in January I have to bundle up at least a few times.  What's the coldest temp at DCA this season?  Like mid 20s or something pathetic like that?

23F if I'm not mistaken.

5 minutes ago, Ji said:

no..you are guaranteed 2 10 inch storms every winter for the rest of your life.....but that would be all you get each winter

Okay, gotcha. I would still go with the regular scheduled programming for our region.

Now if those 10" events come in the form of Jan 25, 1985 type snow squalls, though... eh it would still be close for me. Conventional HECSs would be nice to experience once in a while... though I do love me some snowy severe thunderstorm QLCSs.

27 minutes ago, Ji said:

if you guys in the DC area were guaranteed 2 10 inch storms a winter between Dec 15 and Feb 25th and nothing else..........and that would be it for the rest of your lives. Or the other option would be to continue the winters as we have them now with the unpredictability. What would you choose?

Well you wouldn't want to miss out on future HECSs/BECSs for two 10" events that would be the last snow we ever experience living here in our lives leading to constant depression due to "lack of blue" for you for the rest of your life... would you?

4 minutes ago, high risk said:

12z guidance pretty much all took a pretty big step back in terms of coverage of convective rain/snow/graupel showers Saturday afternoon.     It's not obvious why,  but they all seemed to pick up on *something* that's hostile to the potential.

Now this only focuses on the long range HRRR but... last nights 0z run had surface winds backing to SE for tomorrow afternoon as a surface trough/low developed and move through the region (probably helped low-level convergence). The 12z does not do that and has surface winds keeping a westerly component for the afternoon (W to SW). 

Just an observation:

The 0z HRRR actually backs surface winds to southeasterly during the day on Saturday as it develops a surface trough/low in the mountains that moves east across the region during the afternoon/evening. This probably enhanced the convection this run.

11 minutes ago, high risk said:

Nice signal in the NAM nest for some heavy rain/snow/grapuel showers later Saturday as the trough axis swings through with steep lapse rates.

^ @high risk is a great red-tagger to follow if you want to know about any sneaky convective potential.

Just now, WxUSAF said:

I don’t see this anafrontal deal, but looks like some rain/snow showers on Saturday possibly behind the front. 

Potentially of the more "convective" nature.

45 minutes ago, WinterWxLuvr said:

Anybody else also feel the clock ticking?

I'd be quite worried if time wasn't moving, actually. 

@WinterWxLuvr

 Congratulations! 

50 minutes ago, Ralph Wiggum said:

Where the hell is @Ji??

He'll be back next winter... or, more likely, sometime within the next 24 hours. 

@losetoa6 You seem to be the eternal optimist. I vote that you weenie-in and amp up the Tuesday wave for us.  

1 minute ago, JakkelWx said:

What's that yellow shiny object in the sky?

The 2020 Meteor coming in a week late. 

2 hours ago, chris21 said:

Did you mean April 9, 2006? In Ridge, MD (a couple miles north of point lookout) there was 4-5 slushy inches in a short time period with crazy heavy snow. It was unbelievably cold for April  also so piles and patches of it could be seen for 4 more days making it a real unusual landscape for far Southern Maryland in mid April.

I don't remember an April snow event in 2006. Do you mean 2007? It snowed during the early morning hours on April 7, 2007 and IIRC areas to the south got more snow than DC proper. I'm not entirely sure if anyone saw rates like that though.

Meanwhile, I am getting some light rain/graupel now.

29 minutes ago, WinterWxLuvr said:

Unfortunately you’ll never experience a Jan 25, 1985 east of the mountains. 
 

But I can testify it was something else. We were below zero for about 60 hours ... bottom at -26

The Jan 1985 event actually did drop several inches of snow in some areas of northern/central Maryland east of the mountains. With @Stormfly getting 6-7" in 40-45mins and @CAPE getting 4" in ~45mins. CAPE was living west of the bay at the time though IIRC. But your point still stands about how uncommon something like that is.

9 minutes ago, WinterWxLuvr said:

Mid Atlantic snow showers are snow flurries anywhere else. If you’ve never experienced convective snow showers you’re missing out. Not sure you can get those on the east side of the mountains.

Yeah. Our standards are pretty low here in general.  

Once in a while we luck into more legit convective snow showers like on February 9, 2017, ... April 9, 2016 from NVA into SMD, ...and, of course, the favorite recent convective snow event in these parts... February 14, 2015. 

I'd love more than anything to experience a January 25, 1985 event here. 

There's an interesting vorticity-max showing up on LWX radar centered near the eastern tip of the WVA Panhandle. Perhaps it enhanced any showers/snow showers this afternoon?

https://weather.cod.edu/satrad/nexrad/index.php?parms=LWX-N0Q-1-48-50-usa-rad

1 hour ago, Round Hill WX said:

The roads are icy. Saw a bunch of crashes on my way into work. 

Yeah. I wasn't anticipating skies being clear the whole night (I expected temps between 32-36F for my pre-dawn run (Actual Low: 28F)).So during my run this morning I was anxiously awaiting some rogue black ice on the damp looking pavement and roads to cause me to wipe out. I, however, survived unscathed.

Clear skies + calm winds + lots of low-level moisture + wet grounds + below freezing temperatures = The heaviest "frost" I've seen

29F at IAD.

5 minutes ago, poolz1 said:

Got up to 33 yesterday and stayed there all day.  Minor ice on the underbrush and pines.  Def over an inch but havent measured the spillover from the 1" mark yet.  Creek almost came out of its banks after the heavy burst yesterday eve.  Soggy, muddy mess...

We should each go into our records for this winter and see how much rain we get while the temperature is 33F. 

Not that I will tonight but if you're someone (like me) who has never drank alcohol once in your life before, what is a good way to start without killing yourself? 

... SHOULD I start?

57 minutes ago, WinterWxLuvr said:

That could have been it because I know it was chilly which is why I was watching the clouds. Was that Election Day? Coulda been

Yeap. It was Election Day.