recap of friday night storm

This storm turned out to be a bust for the area. While many locations did receive a light dusting of snow overnight, the snow quickly melted. In some spots, the snow melted by sunrise. I have outlined the factors in what resulted in the storm turning out the way it did.
LACK OF MOISTURE:
This was a sign that became apparent towards the end of the day on Friday that gave a clue that forecast snowfall amounts would not pan out. With the storm tracking from the Ohio Valley to the Mid Atlantic, computer models overestimated how much moisture in the storm would make it over the mountains. While it had appeared that there would be strong enough dynamics in the atmosphere to allow for a brief period of moderate to heavy snowfall rates, these dynamics did not play out with the limited moisture.
MARGINAL TEMPERATURES:
Although rain was expected all along to mix in initially for southern Calvert and St. Mary’s, the storm ended up taking the far northern track in the scenarios I had mentioned on Thursday. This small difference allowed for temperatures to be slightly warmer than expected in the lower levels of the atmosphere, which allowed for more rain than snow in Southern MD. This was also enhanced from a southeast wind coming off the bay that was slightly stronger than expected earlier in the night.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The rest of this President’s Day weekend will still turn out to be chilly with windy conditions at times. Some sunshine is expected throughout the weekend. There are no signs of any snow for at least the next week.

​Forecaster Jason