Suddenly Snowy

Now

Sunny, cold. After clearing skies and the new snow cover allowed temperatures to drop to the low 20s in the city and the low teens in the outlying areas (13° at Dulles, only 4° above the daily record), brilliant sunshine has been able to push readings barely to the freezing mark this afternoon. The very cold highs, even for December, were: National 34°, Dulles 32°, BWI 32°. As we approach the end of the first week, the month is now over 5° below average.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Mostly clear, then increasing cloudiness, cold. Under mostly clear skies early tonight, becoming partly cloudy later, lows will range from the mid 20s downtown to the upper teens in the coolest 'burbosphere. Clouds will increase during the day tomorrow with highs 39-43° and a slight chance (20%) of rain in the afternoon.

Scroll down for Kevin's and Ian's picture gallery from the storm and Josh's outlook through the weekend and into next week.

Precipitation Picture

For once, temperature was not a significant factor in yesterday's snowfall around the DC area, but Maryland won the accumulation contest because of larger precipitation amounts generally north of the Potomac and west of I-95. The 24-hour liquid-equivalent precipitation map through this morning from the NWS Precipitation Analysis shows a bullseye of mostly quarter-inch to half-inch amounts (dark blue) from the overachieving "clipper" storm in central Maryland.

Snow Removal

If you're dissatisfied with your local jurisdiction's snow removal operations, check out why residents of another large North American city are upset over their city's budget-cutting action. (For the non-metric mavens, 8 cm. was just about the average snowfall amount in this area yesterday. )

La Niña Update

NOAA today released the latest La Niña update. It indicates a "a moderate-to-strong La Niña through February, followed by a gradual weakening thereafter." Implications for U.S. weather "include above-average precipitation in the Northern Rockies, the Pacific Northwest, the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, and parts of the Great Lakes region. Below-average precipitation is expected across the South, particularly in the southwestern and southeastern states."