The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Wind Advisory in effect from 9am to 6pm Thursday for portions of DC, central, north central, northeast, northern, southern, and western Maryland, central, northern, northwest, and western Virginia, and eastern West Virginia.
Per the NWS, “West winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 55 mph can be expected. Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result. Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution.”
Per the NWS forecaster’s discussion, “The potential also exists for snow showers/squalls during the morning commute into the metro areas. Temperatures should be far enough above freezing to limit accumulation in the immediate I-95 corridor, but colder temperatures over the northwest suburbs (especially some of the higher hills and into the Catoctins) could prove treacherous. A Special Weather Statement for a potential commuter hazard has been issued for Frederick and Carroll Counties where the potential for slicks roads is highest.”
What are snow squalls? The National Weather Service says “They move in and out quickly, and typically last less than an hour. The sudden white-out conditions combined with falling temperatures produce icy roads in just a few minutes. Squalls can occur where there is no large-scale winter storm in progress and might only produce minor accumulations. Snow squalls can cause localized extreme impacts to the traveling public and to commerce for brief periods of time. Unfortunately, there is a long history of deadly traffic accidents associated with snow squalls. Although snow accumulations are typically an inch or less, the added combination of gusty winds, falling temperatures and quick reductions in visibility can cause extremely dangerous conditions for motorists.”
Fox5’s Mike Thomas says, “Tomorrow’s event in range of the 3km GRAF (15hr model) which is our highest resolution futurecast. Still has a band of snow/mix showers briefly crossing the metro sometime between 5-7am. If it’s a squall (hard to model) could be BRIEFLY impactful. If it’s lighter, not impactful.”
Pencil Prediction for Thursday, December 5th: 1 Pencil (rating scale can be seen below).
While it’s certainly possible for the squall to be briefly impactful, it doesn’t appear to be something that would cause schools to close or be delayed. We do, however, have a new superintendent so tomorrow morning may give us an indication into how he plans to handle situations like this one.
