Monday night, a low passing to our south through the Carolinas will create a period of moderate to heavy snow over the area.
Expect snow to start around 5 PM tomorrow, and start really getting going after 10 PM or so. Snow should end around 7-8 AM on Tuesday morning. Due to the extremely cold air in place– temperatures should be around 14-17 when it is snowing– no rain or mix of any kind is expected.
Snow will stick right off the bat to all surfaces and probably shutdown most schools and businesses Tuesday. If the snow gets going earlier, it could also impact the PM commute tomorrow. Snow-to-liquid ratios will be quite high due to the depth of the cold air, creating a very light, fluffy snow.
Accumulations throughout the county will probably range from 5-9″, with northern Montgomery County seeing closer to 5″ and southern Montgomery County seeing closer to 9″. If you remember the March 17th storm from last year, the timing, accumulations, and snow consistency should be somewhat similar.
There is a very high chance MCPS closes Tuesday, almost a sure bet as long as nothing in the forecast changes drastically (still very much possible).
I’ll have a final update out tomorrow afternoon before the snow starts.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have below.
Article by Josh Karpatkin, MoCo Student staff meteorologist