Snowfall Could Be Biggest In Years

Weather Threatens Area Commutes

The region's first significant snow of the season is forecast for today, threatening the morning commute and delivering one to four inches through the course of the day.

The winter wonderland will be fleeting, though, with the snow predicted to dissolve into sleet and freezing rain later in the day, possibly affecting the evening drive.

"It will be a pretty big mess," said Jason Samenow, chief meteorologist for the Capital Weather Gang at Washingtonpost.com. "While it's going to be mainly snow farther inland, it will be a mix [of precipitation] from Washington north to Boston."

The usual army of 625 salt trucks prepared to greet the snow in Virginia, where crews spent yesterday pre-treating critical bridges and roads, including the Springfield interchange, which turned into a slippery mess after a snowfall last year.

"We've been doing a lot of pre-treating this winter, and this is the first time we'll have real snow," said Joan Morris, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation.

A low-pressure system that rained across the deep South was moving north and as it encountered this region's frigid temperatures was expected to turn into snow during the wee hours. Later today, the evening warm air at higher altitudes was expected to transform the precipitation into sleet. That was predicted to turn into rain by tomorrow morning, creating icy conditions throughout most of the Washington area.

The good news for commuters is that, after today, there's not much prospect of snow in the near future, Samenow said.

"It's been a pretty depressing winter for snow lovers," he said. "We've had all this cold air, but we can't muster any snow."

National Weather Service statistics show that the area has experienced something of a snow drought in recent years.

During the past 30 years, the average annual snowfall recorded at Reagan National Airport has been 15 inches. The winter of 2002-03 produced a monumental, although not record, 40.4 inches. Since then, seasonal snowfall has been sub-par.

After three reasonably average winters -- 12.4 inches, 12.5 inches and 13.6 inches -- only 9.5 inches of snow fell in the winter of 2006-07.

Last winter, the snow total amounted to just 4.9 inches. The biggest snowfall last winter was 2.6 inches on Dec. 5, 2007. The only other snowfall of note was one inch on Feb. 20. If more than three inches of snow accumulates today, it will be the most snow to fall in almost two years.

"It simply hasn't been snowing," said Calvin Meadows of the National Weather Service. "I have no idea why. These things go in cycles."