arlwx12

Current Status ((OPM on DC-area offices)) Status: Early Departure -- All Employees Must Depart No Later Than 2:00 PM Early Departure -- All Employees Must Depart No Later Than 2:00 PM “Employees of [specified Federal offices at specified locations] are authorized for Early Departure. All employees Must Depart no later than 2:00 pm at which time Federal offices are Closed.” Telework Employees at the Office will receive weather and safety leave only for the time required to commute home. Once these employees arrive at home, they must complete any remaining portion of the workday by teleworking, taking unscheduled leave (paid or unpaid) or other paid time off, or a combination. Non-Telework Employees at the Office will be dismissed from their office no later than the final departure time 2:00 pm (as applicable) and will be granted weather and safety leave for the number of hours remaining in their workday. Telework Employees Performing Telework are expected to continue working and generally may not receive weather and safety leave. They must account for the entire workday by teleworking, taking unscheduled leave (paid or unpaid) or other paid time off, or a combination. Remote Workers are expected to continue working and generally may not receive weather and safety leave. They must account for the entire workday by working, taking unscheduled leave (paid or unpaid) or other paid time off, or a combination. Emergency Employees are expected to remain at the worksite unless otherwise directed by their agencies. Employees Departing the Office Prior to Their Early Departure Time or the Final Departure Time (whichever is applicable) may request unscheduled leave (paid or unpaid) or other paid time off. Such employees will not be granted weather and safety leave for any part of the workday. Employees on Preapproved Leave (paid or unpaid) or other paid time off—including an employee who has requested unscheduled leave before an early departure policy is announced—generally should continue to be charged leave or other paid time off during the scheduled time and should not receive weather and safety leave.

Long snip from the latest LWX AFD: (bolding mine) (snip) Multiple rounds of severe weather look to impact the area today. The 1st wave is now ejecting across central VA and the Shenandoah Valley putting it into the Baltimore/DC metros around or just after noon. A secondary batch of storms is ejecting out of I-77 corridor down across the New River Valley/western NC mountains with another area of storms down around eastern NC. These two areas of storms will be the main show heading mid to late afternoon ahead of the squall line feature which looks to develop just in time from the evening commute. Still looking at a high impact severe weather event across the region. The Storm Prediction Center has maintained the Moderate Risk (Level 4 out of 5) area which extends from east of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. The one exception to this is northeastern Maryland which is in an Enhanced Risk (Level 3 out of 5) given the cooler bay waters could weaken approaching convection. (snip) With the degree of deep-layer shear in place, any of the pre-frontal discrete cells will pose a risk of becoming a supercell. These would be most conducive to producing a tornado, particularly if the enlarged 0-1 km and 0-3 km hodographs hold as true as forecast soundings depict. However, some of the high-resolution guidance show a slew of cells firing up at once which would favor more competition amongst them. This would diminish the tornado risk as multicell convection dominates. At the same time, another squall line is likely to form off the higher terrain this afternoon. While the vertical shear vector does not align perpendicular to the forming line, enough angle between the two should favor evolution into a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS). These are prone to producing spin up tornadoes along any kinks in the line. Where this line bows out is where the 70 to 80 mph wind gust possibility will be maximized. All of this slides eastward at a fairly hefty speed, perhaps 40 to 50 mph. Severe convection is expected to near the I-95 corridor during the evening rush hour before exiting the Chesapeake Bay by the early/mid evening hours. Some weakening is possible east of I-95 as the system begins to ingest the colder Chesapeake Bay waters.

Loudoun County public schools (for now) is NOT dismissing early, will hold students if its' not safe at regular dismissal time. Home | Loudoun County Public Schools (text) We are closely monitoring the severe weather forecast for our area later today. As you may know, weather systems like this can change quickly in timing and intensity, making it challenging to predict exactly when the worst conditions will arrive. At this time, we are NOT planning an early dismissal; however, we are canceling all after- school activities and programming across campuses and administrative offices. Current forecasts suggest that the strongest conditions could occur during the window when buses would be transporting students home if we dismissed early. Out of an abundance of caution, we do not want to risk buses and student drivers being on the roads during potentially hazardous weather. We are staying in regular contact with local emergency management and reviewing the latest forecasts throughout the day. If conditions were to become unsafe at the end of the school day, we will hold students at school until it is safe to release them. We will provide families with updates if this occurs. Our priority is always the safety of our students and staff, and we would rather delay dismissal than send buses and families into dangerous conditions. We will continue to keep you updated throughout the day if anything changes.

LWX text on the tornado warning: The National Weather Service in Sterling Virginia has issued a * Tornado Warning for... Eastern Rappahannock County in northwestern Virginia... Northwestern Fauquier County in northern Virginia... Northwestern Culpeper County in northern Virginia... * Until 1100 AM EDT. * At 1033 AM EDT, a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located 7 miles east of Sperryville, or 12 miles northwest of Culpeper, moving northeast at 55 mph. HAZARD...Tornado.

Sun weakly shining in south Arlington.

Heard from someone that her kids' Loudoun County school will close 3 hours early. Still not posted on LCPS, WUSA or WJLA websites.

Another listing of "DC-area" school dismissals: Closings and Delays | Washington DC | wusa9.com This includes Arlington (2 hours early) (which WJLA doesn't yet), DC public schools, and probably other additions (such as MD schools) that WJLA doesn't list yet. ((Still waiting on Loudoun County- I know someone with school kids there...))

As I have noted before, one source of "DC-area" closure warnings (especially on schools) is from WJLA: Closings

Half-mile or less visibility in Arlington. About 1/2 inch topping tree branches.

Snow/grass/shrubtopper in South Arlington. Still melting on pavements and roads, though.

WTOP is now reporting slush building on some roads N&W of DC.

All right, WHO turned on the snow machine? And turned the DCA temperature down to 34?? Still melting in south Arlington, though.

The latest from airports: DCA 39 IAD 36 light snow BWI 37 rain/snow

NWS current low forecasts for Friday morning: DCA: 32 IAD: 29 BWI: 30 Might be icy in spots tomorrow...

DCA temperatures have tumbled. 0525: 75 0752: 51

Tornado watches up to the west of the Blue Ridge from about Luray northward.

Looks like another bunch of shattered high temperatures today. So far, DCA hit 84, IAD and BWI 82. Records at all three airports for the date had been 79.

Might (or might NOT) be a bit stormy tomorrow. From LWX's latest AFD: (snip) KEY MESSAGE 1...Severe Thunderstorms are possible Wednesday afternoon and evening. Tomorrow`s forecast is an extremely challenging one. At this point, there`s a wide range of potential solutions on the table, with very low confidence in which solution will ultimately verify. Forecast details follow below...

Outside, my neighbor's tree has started shedding pollen all over my car. Another neighbor's daffodils may bloom soon. My shaded trees' buds still haven't burst, though.

Totally smashed today's records for the DC-area airports. So far, they have all hit 84. The old records were 79 DCA, 80 at IAD and BWI. Might tie or break records tomorrow (before we plunge back into the cooler).

Back up to a whole quarter-mile plus in South Arlington.

Foggy in south Arlington this morning. Can barely see some lights at 1/4 mile, none at 1/2 mile. Channel 5 in DC warned those about to drive to NOT put on their high-beams.

Some schools (Fairfax and some to the NW) are delayed two hours. Probably to ensure most leftover black ice gets melted/washed away or visible.

Visibility under 1/2 mile here in South Arlington. About 1/4 inch or more on tree branches and shrubs. My Hill of Doom and the sidewalks haven't surrendered yet, though.

Sticking now to shrubs and some grass, trying to do the same for car tops. Visibility probably under a mile now.