Final call: 10-15″ of snow for DC metro area with higher amounts possible, lower amounts south and east with mixing of rain and sleet. There could be wind gusts over 50 mph, sustained winds of 20-30 mph and 4-6 ft drifts! This will be updated as we get closer to the event. A Blizzard Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for 10-20″ of snow, drifts of 2-4 feet, and sustained winds of 25-35 mph with gusts up to 55 mph, the warning is in effect until 10 pm Wednesday. A Blizzard Warning means that snow or blowing snow is occurring for 3 or more hours and winds or wind gusts are 35 mph or greater sustained.
The punisher has long been gone, and what a difference an hour or two makes. As high pressure builds in overnight until Monday night, expect to see mostly sunny skies and clear skies for a while. However, this will not last. As we head into Tuesday a storm system from the Midwest will pass west of our area, but will merge with another weaker storm in the southern jet stream. The merger of the two storms will aid in rapid coastal low development off the Mid-Atlantic coast, as the low pressure rapidly deepens any wintry mix that starts will change over to all snow by late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. The accumulations could be significant from this storm. See figure below.
