Confidence increases for ‘significant’ winter storm in DC area this weekend

Confidence is increasing that there will be a “significant” winter storm Saturday into Sunday along the Interstate 95 corridor, including the D.C. region and the rest of the mid-Atlantic, according to the National Weather Service.

It’s still too early to predict how much snow could fall, but the weather service said “significant snowfall accumulations are likely.”

“Start planning now to minimize impact on you and your family,” the weather service said in a post on X.

Confidence is increasing for a significant winter storm for the region Saturday into Sunday. Significant travel delays and closures are becoming increasingly likely, so start planning ahead to minimize impact on you and your family. pic.twitter.com/ZSHlCX1Evj

— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) January 20, 2026

Those impacts could include significant travel delays and closures.

Along with potentially heavy snow, frigid temperatures are going to accompany and follow the winter storm, meaning the effects could stick around for a while.

“The prolonged nature of this arctic outbreak could lead to pipe bursts, as well as increasing the risk for hypothermia,” the weather service warned.

The storm is on track to begin in the D.C. region Saturday afternoon, peak Saturday night into Sunday, and end Monday.

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7News First Alert Chief Meteorologist Veronica Johnson said the forecast could still change drastically, since it’s five or so days away and the storm hasn’t even formed yet.

“It’s going to change, it’s going to change again, but for right now, I’d say plan for parts of our area getting some accumulating snowfall with the big impact day right now being on Sunday,” Johnson said. “Now the kind of snow that we’re going to get, despite, whatever the track is, if it’s a little or a lot, it’s going to be the fine, powdery sort.”

The forecast snowfall is part of an extremely large winter weather system that could have catastrophic impact farther south — as far south as Texas.

While snow is likely in the forecast for the mid-Atlantic, this system could coat roads, trees and power lines with devastating ice across a wide expanse of the South, The Associated Press reported.

It’s shaping up to be a “widespread potentially catastrophic event from Texas to the Carolinas,” Ryan Maue, a former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press. “I don’t know how people are going to deal with it.”

Forecast

TUESDAY NIGHT: COLD ALERT
Clear
Lows: 10-20
Winds: Northwest 10 mph
Wind chills will not be as low in the single digits, but air temperatures will range from 10 to 20 degrees.

WEDNESDAY:
Mostly sunny
Highs: 38-45
Winds: South 10-20 mph
Another chilly start with wind chills in the 10s and 20s. Highs will reach the low 40s under mostly sunny skies.

THURSDAY:
Partly cloudy
Highs: 47-52
Winds: Northwest 10-20 mph
Milder high temperatures are set to arrive Thursday with highs ranging from the middle 40s to lower 50s.

FRIDAY:
Partly cloudy
Highs: 38-43
Winds: South 5-10 mph
The last day of the week with near normal temperatures, an arctic cold front looks to move through the region during the weekend.

THIS WEEKEND:
Heads up — this looks like the coldest weekend of the season, with highs only in the 20s. There’s the potential for a winter weather event that may affect parts of the D.C. area and the East Coast, but details are still evolving.