January Snow Emergencies in the Nation’s Capital

 

Bethesda, Maryland  (January 2016)

While DC’s record stretch without appreciable snowfall continues, significant winter storms have occurred during the second half of January.

2016:  A major winter storm enveloped the Mid-Atlantic Region on January 22-24.  Although “only” 17.8” fell at National Airport, 22.4” fell at the National Zoo and areas west and north of town saw even more.  For example, Dulles Airport had its second largest snow total on record with 29.3”, as did Baltimore with a total of 29.2” (measured at BWI Airport).  Totals of more than three feet were observed in central Maryland and parts of Virginia.

2011:  Five inches of snow accumulated at National Airport with slightly higher amounts west and north of town on January 26.  Although not an unusually high amount of snow, what made this snowfall significant was two-fold.  The timing was troublesome in the mid-to-late afternoon when most people were on their way home from work and school.  The high volume of traffic prevented road crews from plowing and treating roads and that led to many accidents.  This storm was dubbed “Carmaggedon” due to the high number of stranded motorists.  Also, this snow had a very high water content that caused it to be heavy and wet.  That made shoveling more difficult than it would have been compared to a drier snow that would have occurred had temperatures been colder.

2000: Longtime DC-Area meteorologists remember the “surprise” snow event from January 25.  The computer forecast models originally called for little to no snowfall in the DC Metro Region because a coastal storm was expected to largely go out to sea.  However, the night before my colleagues on the WUSA9 weather team recognized a major change in the storm track that ultimately led to snow totals of between 9” and 15” across the DC Metro Region.  But, since there was no social media, most people didn’t get the updated forecast on January 24 and woke up to a winter surprise the next morning.  This was DC’s largest snow event since January 1996.

1996:  A Nor’Easter brought 17.1” of snow to the Nation’s Capital from January 6-8.  That was DC’s largest winter storm since February 1983.  Unlike the 2000 snow event, the computer models did a very good job and meteorologists were able to give area residents plenty of advance notice.  With a monthly total of 23.8”, January 1996 became the snowiest January in Washington, D.C. since 1935.  As a whole, the 1995-1996 winter ranks as DC’s third snowiest on record.