Snow has now broken out across the D.C. - Baltimore metro region. This is associated with a northern piece of energy (a weak wave in the upper atmosphere) sliding through from the Ohio Valley. A second piece of energy - a wave moving out of the Tennessee Valley - is sliding well to our south. You can see these two regions of precipitation in the afternoon radar view below:
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| Regional radar depicting two regions of snow. WeatherTAP |
The heavier snow region is over north central N.C.
In between these two regions lies a "snow hole", and in fact a wedge of dry air in the middle atmosphere - called a
dry slot - is working across central VA; you can see this nicely in the water vapor satellite image below:
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| Dry slot shutting down snowfall across central VA. WeatherTAP |
The back edge of the snow affecting our area this afternoon should clear the metro region between 6-7 pm this evening. Snow accumulations are being limited by many factors: (1) some of the snow was consumed by saturating a dry air layer near the surface; (2) the northern wave producing our snow is moving very quickly; (3) the southern wave is "stealing" some of the moisture from the northern one; and (4) the dry slot will eventually overspread NOVA and central MD.
The high resolution models I discussed in my earlier post today suggest that the snow will be intermittent from 3-6 pm, coming in two distinct, light batches out of the WV panhandle. Either way, they also show a sharp back edge clearing our region after 6 pm.
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