Miss Pixee

17 minutes ago, EHoffman said:

That's all I'm saying though, is that historically these types of storms fail 99% of the time in DC even if we're getting slammed a few days in advance on "all the models."  Of course it's not IMPOSSIBLE we bank significantly on this, but I find it to be a major uphill battle.

Ehhh no power outages and slippery pavement that melted by the next morning.  Pretty? Sure.  High impact? In CVA and Southern VA, absolutely. Here, not so much.

I honestly think the models are too cold and we're always warmer than progged down here.

All I know is, (as a native washingtonian) you don't have to wait 50 years for mega storms. "High impact" doesn't just mean outages. It could be travel issues. Saturday an suv skidded UNDER a cement truck in front of a gas station. The truck flipped on its side, the suv went sailing two blocks and collided with another building. Was posted up i news coverage. SE DC. I couldn't get past my steps or landing because of ice. My neighborhood was a frigging skating rink...and its all hills so not fun. Ice isn't good for anything except pictures. I get it, marginal stuff is tough here because we've got a lot going on climate wise. The ocean, the mountains, hot air off the gulf. The latitude. So, duh.

I just get tired of the inaccurate narrative about DC, as if this is an eternal tropic zone that never sees snow. I get people are frustrated looking at a zillion color maps, but all anyone has to do is look up all the mega storms of the last 50 years. There's been quite a few, not counting minor events. And this 'heat island' bit could apply to any city at this latitiude. If you're talking about downtown with the heaviest traffic and concrete, ok. That's just the central core. I sometimes wonder if people ever venture out of their neighborhoods. Just sayin'. Maybe its time to just look out the window and toss all the models, I dunno.

And now, back to the mood swings over maps...

Saturday night in DC. 28 stone cold degrees. Ice, Ice Baby.

Will go out later and carefully try to get a night pic....really icy out here. Backlight looks great against coated tree branches. Streets half shiny half white. Even my walkout landing has concrete slush.  Temp 30.

1 hour ago, PrinceFrederickWx said:

The Camellia has grown tentacles- send help

LOL anything like this?????

Ice snow still falling/accumulating. You can see the slush tracks in the street now. Temp stubborn at 32.

Turning into a small event here in far SE...even little buddies are coming out. You can definitely see icy areas on the streets now. Getting some decent snow cover, too.

Cars icing a lot now...frozen "Popsicle" mobiles everywhere. Ice fangs. Grass now getting frostier white. I hear VA (mostly central, southern) has massive power outages, over 200,000. What's the deal with that?

1 hour ago, fujiwara79 said:

if the arctic air dumps into the south central states before trudging east, then yes that's how it works.  not all arctic outbreaks do that.  some directly target the northeast.  but we haven't had one of those in years.

look at 2004 in new england.  one of the coldest winters ever in new england.  those arctic blasts targeted them and didn't dump into the south central states at all.

True. Being off the ocean does moderate the extreme stuff. Still cold as a mofo, though. Last week the arctic outbreak over the midwest was so cold they ran out of colors on the map...the purple turned into gray, lol.

Icing up now in Southeast DC. Cars have cover, some frosting on mulch and grass. Streets are half glaze/half wet. Steady at 32 degrees. Roads are gonna get ugly. News reports of an overturned concrete truck at a SE gas station. Friend of mine at the hospital for falling on ice.

57 minutes ago, fujiwara79 said:

yesterday was the first time in two years dca had a high of 32 or less.  today will be the second.  so....there is that.

kind of unbelievable that we haven't had a true arctic outbreak in three years.  the midwest is experiencing an epic one now.  dallas may go below zero on tuesday morning.  but it'll just become stale by the time it gets here.  personally, while snow is my #1 criteria for a good winter, i also consider the number of arctic outbreaks to be the second factor.  in that area, we have been lacking for a while now.

You always notice the pattern of artic blasts like that forms a "V" shape down from Canada...it doesn't go across the upper latitude. I even saw on the news where it dips down into Houston. ND, MN, WI get it the worst with MI a close second. Even Boston doesn't get that kind of cold, being off the ocean too.

Heavy sleety rain in SE DC. Looks wet but icy on grass, unpaved surfaces. Streets are a combo of wet and suspicious black ice patches. Don't envy anyone who has to go on these roads later. Power lines looking shiny too.

Current temp is 32. 

4 hours ago, psuhoffman said:

I totally get the frustration in DC. Thing is it’s been a failure of boundary temps not pattern. I don’t know what to say. This has been the pattern since Dec 1 and the last month!   This looks like a match to every big DC snow period.

 

And we’ve had perfect track after perfect track SWs this winter. I count about 5 storms that frankly everything went EXACTLY right for a DC snowstorm and DC got a 37 degree rain or mix event. I don’t know what to say and frankly I don’t even know what DC needs to get snow anymore. Colder is the obvious answer but if a storm takes the perfect track colder would have  suppressed it. If the amount of suppression it takes to get cold enough is so much so that it squashed any wave that’s a problem. And don’t bring up Dallas. They aren’t near the coast east of mountains. Totally different climate. 

Fortunately got a couple of inches from the last storm. I'm more curious about the temp layers. What's the deal with all the frz rain/sleet/ice instead of snow? Its like the air patterns are all funky. Don't get me started on the maps people keep posting. BTW it isn't as if DC is its own entity...I heard these same arguments about Richmond.

Mother nature trumps, no matter what we think/say.

Wait, what? 

I had put this storm on ignore...and its snowing now in SE DC! Accumulating quickly, too. No wind...its falling straight down.

Temp at 33. The light coating from last night never melted.

Steady sleet in SE, leaves and bushes getting a glaze. Cars have crackle frost on top. Streets getting shiny. Temp down to 33.

4 minutes ago, midatlanticweather said:

Seems this is the line. 

That gives me some idea of what's going on where with the temps. I couldn't tell what was what by the reports. 

48 minutes ago, EHoffman said:

Anyone else in DC already upset by precip fringing us?  Cause I'm totally not..........

I never get emotional over snow. I love it, but its only a big deal here because we have a dramatic climate.

Color me underwhelmed. Something is falling but not doing much. Darted outside and noticed its really raw. Still stuck at 34 degrees. But, I'll post these foggy pics for the geeks:

2 minutes ago, arlwx said:

IMO, it's all about elevation plus distance from the Potomac.

I'm about 100 feet up from DCA.  Pixee may be as much as 300 feet up, maybe a bit further away from the Potomac, and Fort Reno is up around 400 feet.

So I wouldn't be surprised to see DCA get maybe an inch if generously measured, me an inch or so, and Pixee and Fort Reno get the 3 promised NWS inches.

That's ASS-U-MEing equal QPF.

The bulk of SE is east of the anacostia river (not capitol hill SE) is pretty much elevation and hills. You can actually see it from I295 or  if you look across Sousa bridge. The whole horizon going from say, Northeast to the naval base area. I'm actually at 143 feet. Neighbors behind me are over 180-200ish, and down the block 75. Its like that everywhere here. Since all the news coverage is based in NW they tend to not pay too much attention. Navy yard proper is a concrete jungle now since the retrofit, hot as blazes in the summer.

Now 34 degrees. Cars and non paved surfaces have a light snow coating. Streets seem just wet right now.

3 minutes ago, EHoffman said:

You're getting ice accums in SE? It's like dripping wet here...

Yeah, I'm not near the downtown core. Stuffs wet and slippery at the same time, like it's caught between ice and rain.

Icy rain, tree branches lightly coated. Ice crystal skim on top of cars. 35 degrees in SE DC feels a lot colder. No whining here.

For the hip MD crowd, locator acroynms. Cut, paste and save for future reference. Some of these you know, some are new. Just killing time until the next storm.

MoCo       montgomery county
HoCo      howard county
SomCo      somerset county
CarCo      carroll county
WaCo      washington county
CeCo     cecil county
AaCo     anne arundel county
QuaCo    queen anne county
KenCo    kent county
HaCo    harford county
CharCo    charles county
DoCo    dorchester county
BalCo    baltimore county
AlCo    allegany county
GaCo    garrett county
TaCo    talbot county
WiCo    wicomico county
FreCo    frederick county
CalCo    calvert county
WoCo    worchester county
CaCo    caroline county
MarCo    st marys
PgCo    prince georges county

I may do one for VA, too. This doesn't work for DC, for obvious reasons.
 

On 2/4/2021 at 9:27 PM, jacindc said:

I remember -4 when the Ice Winter of 1994 swung into gear. There were rolling brownouts.

Me too I was in school...people were tying towels to their shoes and wearing football cleats to walk on ice. One old man had strapped broom poles that were jagged to the sides of his legs. Crazy stuff.

1 hour ago, real said:

Not sure most will care because many probably doubted the forecast in the first place, but this a pretty big  bust for. LWX. Forecast was for 4 to 6 in DC, and many parts of the city  saw zero accumulation.

The bulk of southeast washington which lies across the river says hold my beer.  

Temps bouncing all over the place now, 33 to 37, then 35. Now/34/35. Still snowing strong but some melting in spots as the lakes fall. This is one weird storm.

3 hours ago, Deer Whisperer said:

Road stickage in DC at 35? I can't get my driveway to cave at 32.5 

LOL that's messed up.