The Winter Storm Rollercoaster

Winter time storms are like a three play act.

Act I develops the plot (a snowstorm cometh) during the progression of the act and it will end on a high note (that would have been Saturday night with forecasts of all snow and over a foot accumulation). Note I looked like the guy on the right on Sunday morning

Act II sees the situation become more complex (wintry mess forecasted yesterday) and that forecast becoming more dire towards the end of the act when the play is at its nadir. We are currently witnessing this low point now with the "slush from the sky" forecast (which means that nobody knows what is going to happen, but they will err on the side of caution). Today I look like the guy on the left.

Act III is going to be played out Tuesday. Snow will change to sleet (I don't see freezing rain this far north - that usually happens in a different set-up (too much cold air is here so I think it will be a mess of sleet, snow pellets and snow) - and the bright light will be when the storm wraps up and draws down the cold air and slings the moisture back onto shore when we will get a nice burst of snow.

Think of what is going to happen as a winter sandwich. Snow on the bottom, some icy crap in the middle and a nice layer of snow on top. It is a good thing that there will be no freezing rain - with the amount of precip we are going to see, if it was freezing rain there would be no power for weeks. Having grown up in NC where we have alot of ice, it is ugly to look at and makes for a very cold house.

I'm going to stick with 8+ inches for the northern and western burbs, DC will be the transition (also is a urban heat island which holds down accumulations) so 6 inches of snow and ice, and the eastern burbs (Bowie and Upper Marlboro) out to the Bay will be under 4 inches with alot more ice.