More Snow Coming Tuesday

It’s looking like Washington is going to have something of a lively winter this year. After an ice storm yesterday that brought a few inches of snow followed by hours of sleet and freezing rain, the area is bracing for an even bigger early-winter blast that some forecasters have dumping up to five inches of snow.

The National Weather Service is implementing a winter weather advisory at 3 AM Tuesday, with precipitation arriving just in time to wreck the morning commute. The storm is expected to begin dumping a wintry mix around 7 AM, eventually turning into snow for several hours. The snow is expected to be at its heaviest during rush hour, especially in Virginia south of Interstate 66 and east of Interstate 95. Temperatures will hover in the high 20s and low 30s.

The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang predicts that like today, schools and government agencies will likely have delayed openings or not open at all. There is at least one function of government that will not be affected by a snow day—parking enforcement, especially along corridors with rush hour restrictions. In the District, parking is prohibited along high-traffic roads between 7 and 9:30 AM and again from 4 to 6:30 PM. And though some of our colleagues today spotted cars parked on Connecticut Avenue, Northwest, this morning, Department of Public Works spokeswoman Linda Grant says that parking tickets do not take a holiday for a few inches of snow.

Besides its meter maids, DPW is also preparing to deploy its fleet of 200 vehicles to treat the roads.

The federal government delayed its operations by two hours today, but has not yet made a call about tomorrow. Sunday’s storm also affected thousands of flights along the East Coast, especially at Washington’s airports, where flights today are still experiencing residual delays of more than half an hour.

Winter is getting off to an aggressive start, after two years of anemic snowfall. In fact, if the National Weather Service’s predictions of five inches of snow tomorrow hold up, Washington will have experienced about twice as much snow in three days as it did all of last winter.