WUSA 9 is the last of the four major networks to release its 2023-2024 Winter Forecast in a well-produced video that does a great job explaining why they believe there will be “above average snowfall for the entire DMV” including a relatively early first snow of the season. Our recap can be seen below:
The team of Kaitlyn McGrath, Topper Shutt, Makayla Lucero, and Christopher P Laudicina put together a winter forecast that calls for the first snow to fall on December 21st. We look at that as more of a “fun” guess rather than the more thoughtful totals they put together, which includes 17 inches at National Airport, 26 inches at Dulles Airport, 24 inches in Rockville, 25 inches in Fairfax, and 17 inches in Bowie. Most of Montgomery County falls in the 20-30 inch range, which includes most of Loudon County, some of Fairfax County, Frederick County and Carroll County. Parts of southern/east MoCo are in the 10-20 inch range that also includes DC and Prince George’s County and most of Howard County.
WUSA9 says temperatures are a coin flip, but notes that we’ve seen more snow during winter when temperatures are not at their coldest. “During a strong El Niño, half the time we have above average snowfall and half the time we end with well below average snowfall. For example, in the winter of 2015-2016 the DMV had over 22″ of snow, essentially from one blizzard, but in the winters of 1972-1973 and 1997-1998 we recorded only .1″ of total snowfall. In fact, those two winters are tied for the least amount of snow in the DMV.” Topper Shutt describes this type of winter as “feast or famine”, and goes on to explain that he believes this winter we will… feast.
The full 2023-2024 Winter Weather Forecast by WUSA9 can be seen here. The video can be seen below.
