Second call for upcoming major winter storm on Monday

9:21AM 1/4/25 - WINTER STORM UPDATE:
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As of early this morning, the NWS has issued a winter storm watch for the entire state. For our area, the watch is in effect from 7pm Sunday until 1am Tuesday for Montgomery, Prince Georges, and Anne Arundel. The watch is in effect from 10pm Sunday until 1am Tuesday for Washington, Frederick, Carroll, Baltimore, Harford, Howard, and Baltimore city.

Snow is expected to overspread the area from SW-NE late Sunday night or early Monday morning depending on location. Snow will become moderate to heavy at times and may mix with sleet to the south of Route 50. Elsewhere, it should remain all snow. Snow will end sometime late Monday night or very early Tuesday morning. ​

There remains uncertainty in the exact track, which ultimately will determine how much snow we see. There are basically 2 different scenarios with the models. One group tracks the low a little closer to DC, which brings a band of major snow to central and northern MD. The other group of models tracks the low further south, hammering the DC metro and southern MD/ northern VA.

Right now, we are going for the middle ground, with the heaviest band of snow along and south of I70. This is where 8-10" of snow is expected, and an isolated amount of 1 foot is possible. Elsewhere south of the PA state line, 5-8" of snow is expected, with isolated higher amounts possible. And for our southern PA counties, 2-5" is expected. ​

Even if this was a total bust, and we wound up with 1-3" (that is very unlikely), the roads would still be extremely hazardous as the temperatues will be well below freezing so everything will stick. We anticipate widespread closures on Monday as well as Tuesday. This will be a high impact winter storm, and the biggest one we have seen since 2022.

Our final call will be out Sunday afternoon around 12pm.
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Senior Forecaster Jack.