Ice Storm Warning: It's been a long time since ICE STORM WARNINGS have been hoisted, but areas north and west of Charlottesville to Sterling to Baltimore are under the gun for significant ice accumulations between 1/4 and 1/2 inch by Friday AM.

Winter Weather Advisory: Includes the immediate metro regions for ice accumulations generally less than 1/4 inch. Remember, any ice accumulation can make for extremely hazardous travel.

Within the next 12-18 hours, a wintry melange of snow/freezing rain/and ice pellets will combine to form one heck of an early-morning commute for the Washington, DC megalopolis. Precipitation will break out across the area early tomorrow morning (before the morning commute really gets underway), and road surfaces will all be below freezing due to the excessively cold temperatures we've been experiencing.

After downplaying this event for quite some time, I'm becoming more concerned significant travel hazards could develop tomorrow for those of you venturing out on the roadways around 7-9AM.

This is, without a doubt, the hardest winter storm to predict so far this season. So many factors are coming into play, it's basically impossible to pin down accurate ice and snowfall amounts. I have tried to do justice to the many precip types expected to fall around the area. I like the NWS's handle in this event, and generally followed their Warning/Advisory lines for this forecast.

5-9AM: Snow and freezing rain break out from SW to NE across the region, accumulating quickly on power lines, secondary roads, cars, etc.

9-11AM:Most precip changes over to freezing rain.

11-2PM:Precip southeast of the .25-5" swath changes over to plain rain, but likely remains frozen north and west of town

2PM-7AM(FRI): Rain continues around the metro regions, icing north and west of the cities changes over to a rain/sleet/freezing rain mess. Precip ends from SW to NE


Snowstorm Impact: School Forecast: