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How often do weather professionals have to make that call each winter?
"A lot of times," Schoor said, chuckling. "A lot of times. It's never a dull moment."
Through the lense of history, it's easy to understand why "wintery mix" was first used by a local weather forecaster.
Jan. 6 in recent years has been a good example. Although it has been unusually warm then in the past two years, the high temperature was 37 and the low 30 in 2006 and the high was 33 and the low 24 in 2004. Perfect days for "wintery mix," had anything fallen from above.
"Wintery mix" proved devastating Jan. 14, 1999. The high that day was 36, the low was 28 and the precipitation was less than two-tenths of an inch -- all ice.
"The forecast on that one wasn't that bad, but the ice just moved a little bit closer and we got hit bad," recalled Pepco spokesman Bob Dobkin. "The worst thing you can get hit with is an ice storm."
A quarter-inch of ice can cause problems, and at half an inch or more, "it gets bad" for Pepco, Dobkin said.
That night, a thick casing of ice brought down hundreds of power lines throughout the region. About 400,000 residents, including 230,000 Pepco customers, were left without power.
Because of high winds the next day and a shortage of repair crews, many people lacked lights or heat for five days.
Commuters were stranded when Metro's backup systems faltered, and escalators and elevators stalled as they tried to reach the surface.
A 26-car accident occurred on the Dulles Access Road, and a multi-car crash on the American Legion Bridge shut down the Beltway.
At least 30 school buses skidded off the road or into other vehicles, and emergency rooms filled up with people who had fallen on the ice.
