4 things to know about the weather:
- WEATHER ALERT for Sunday snow
- Mix to snow arrives Sunday morning
- Highest impacts Sunday afternoon and early evening (2-4”)
- Frigid air Monday through Wednesday
Saturday will be one of our best chances to melt away our remaining snowpack before our next chance of snow arrives. And that chance is looking more and more likely for Sunday afternoon and evening.
Overnight clouds brought a wintry mix, but mostly rain, to the area Saturday morning.
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By Saturday afternoon, with temperatures in the low 40s, there will be nothing but periods of very light rain.
Sunday snow and frigid cold plunge
Everything begins to change Sunday morning. A bitter blast of air straight from the Arctic will arrive during the day. Highs on Sunday, in the mid 30s, will happen before noon.
Cloudy skies all day will have a chance to deliver some light rain early in the day before temperatures fall below freezing and everything changes to snow. This storm doesn't have a great deal of moisture to work with, but the nature of arctic air will wring out as much as it can while turning it to snow.
How much of the moisture falls as rain before the change to snow will determine overall snow totals at the end.
Almost everywhere in the DMV will get at least an inch, and it's unlikely that anyone will get more than 4 inches. The snow will stick and should stay around for several days.
Single-digit wind chills for MLK Day and the presidential inauguration
Monday is the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and Inauguration Day, so a great many people will likely be outside even though the public viewing of the swearing-in was moved indoors to Capital One Arena. BUNDLE UP! Monday will be miserably cold and windy. Even with sunny skies, temperatures will barely get above 20° Monday afternoon, with wind chills between 0° and 10°.
Tuesday and Wednesday will be just as cold, but the wind won't be as intense. Highs those days will be around 20°. Overnight low temperatures (not wind chills) will be near 8° in D.C., with many areas north and west of Dulles International Airport dropping below 0°.
The frigid temperatures, which will begin dropping Saturday evening, prompted D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to activate the District's Hypothermia Alert. She shared emergency hotlines in a statement to social media.
Slightly milder, and closer to average, weather will arrive late next week and weekend.
Weather radar
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10-day forecast
Quickcast
SATURDAY:
A few rain showers; mostly cloudy
HIGHS: Mid 40s
SATURDAY NIGHT:
Cloudy
Temps: Upper 20s (suburbs) to upper 30s (downtown)
SUNDAY:
AM mix to snow (2-4” by evening)
HIGHS: Mid 30s
MONDAY:
Partly sunny; gusty; COLD
HIGHS: Mid 20s
TUESDAY:
Partly sunny; COLD
HIGHS: Mid 20s
Sunrise: 7:24 a.m. // Sunset: 5:14 p.m.
Average High: 44° // Average Low: 30°
