Snow is probable again on Friday in D.C. area. Here’s how much could fall.

A coating to a couple of inches is most probable, but roads could turn slick again with freezing temperatures. Delays and cancellations are possible.

By Dan Stillman
January 17, 2024 at 2:03 p.m. EST

After going two years without one inch of snow in a calendar day, we could do it twice in one week, but that’s not a lock. ... Wednesday’s brutal wind chills will ease a bit Thursday ahead of our next chance of snow Thursday night and Friday. We anticipate less snow than the last storm, but it could be enough to cause some delays and cancellations Friday.

Our confidence in accumulating snow is lower than it was for the last storm because this one is a drier system, we’ll be toward the southern edge of the precipitation, and temperatures won’t be quite as cold. ... Whatever happens, it’s cold and windy again this weekend, before significantly warmer weather arrives next week.

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Model forecast of accumulated precipitation for Thursday night and Friday shows the D.C. area toward the southern edge of the higher amounts. (Pivotal Weather)

The approaching storm will be diving southeastward from western Canada before crossing our region Friday. Such “clipper” systems are usually drier and have limited snowfall potential because of their northerly origins, unless low pressure rapidly develops close enough to the coast to pull in moisture from the Atlantic Ocean, according to Wes Junker, the Capital Weather Gang’s winter weather expert.

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Jason Samenow contributed to this report.

By Dan Stillman
Dan Stillman is a meteorologist and editor for the Capital Weather Gang. He earned an M.S. in Meteorology from Texas A&M University, and a B.S. in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences from the University of Michigan. Twitter https://twitter.com/stillmand