WASHINGTON — In a rare move late Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia issued a Blizzard Watch for the D.C. area as the agency, local emergency managers and road crews gear up for a potentially historic winter storm.
The Blizzard Watch is in effect from Friday afternoon through Saturday night when heavy, wind-driven snow is expected to pose a threat to life and property. It is only the second time a Blizzard Watch has been issued for the D.C. area.
Travel is expected to be severely limited, if not impossible, during the height of the storm Friday night and Saturday, the bulletin reads.
Meteorologist Chris Strong said the issuance of the watch represents the relatively high confidence of local forecasters.
“Weather forecasting is one of those things that continues to improve gradually over the years and these types of storms on average only come around every six or seven years,” Strong said. “It’s amazing how far we’ve come in the 20 some years since I’ve been here forecasting these.”
The watch simply means blizzard conditions — heavy snow combined with frequent wind gusts at or above 35 miles per hour — are possible.
“Everybody should be taking this advance notice and this planning time to do what they need to do to keep themselves and their family safe,” Strong said.
As the snowstorm draws closer, the weather service will likely upgrade the watch to a winter storm warning if the forecast holds. If numeric computer models continue to signal the potential of strong winds, it is possible that portions of the region will be placed under a blizzard warning.
“We’ve had [blizzard] warnings for the more tactical, short-term forecasting but having good confidence on a major snowstorm with a lot of wind and snow is something that we wanted to share with everybody to make sure everybody is preparing,” Strong said.
A blizzard warning is issued only within 18 hours of a severe winter weather event when forecasters think there is an imminent threat of life-threatening winter weather conditions.
A blizzard warning means that heavy falling and/or blowing snow is likely to combine to sustained or frequent winds at or above 35 mph for three hours or longer.
The warning is issued when visibilities are expected to be at or below a quarter of a mile. Intense coastal storms can often lead to these dangerous conditions.
Washington has been through many big snowstorms over the decades, but it is rare for the metro area to be exposed to true blizzard conditions.
Several locations briefly attained blizzard status as ‘Snowmaggedon’ came to close on Feb. 10, 2010.
The so-called Blizzard of 1996 failed to reach the National Weather Service’s criteria despite being dubbed a blizzard by the media.
The 1993 Superstorm produced near-blizzard conditions across the region with a few locales well north and west of the metro area subjected to blizzard-like winds and blinding snow.
National Weather Service records show that this was the only other storm that prompted the Sterling office to issue a blizzard watch.
Blizzard watches are more commonly placed in effect for areas of the Northern Plains and occasionally for the New England coastline.
“You can get into trouble very quickly in whiteout conditions. It’s a very dangerous combination when you have low visibility, strong winds, cold temperatures and heavy snow,” Strong said.
