Snow will continue across the region today on the backside of a departing low pressure system. Some areas will remain as rain during the morning across southeastern Virginia and the Delmarva before changing over to snow by the early afternoon. Snow will begin to taper off across northern Pennsylvania this morning with activity clearing out of Pennsylvania by the late afternoon.
Heavy snow will taper off across the D.C.-Baltimore-Philadelphia corridor by the mid-afternoon with snow ending during the evening. Mainly dry conditions are then expected across the region by the late evening and lasting through the overnight hours. Additional snowfall amounts will be 10-16 inches from northern Virginia through central Maryland into Delaware, southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania.
Across Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey, additional amounts of 3-9 inches will be possible between I-80 and I-76. In Virginia, amounts of 3-9 inches will be possible north of I-64 to the far southern extent of the D.C. metro area. Storm total amounts will be 12-20 inches from northwestern Virginia into Maryland, Delaware, southern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.
Snowfall amounts will then quickly fall off north and south of this corridor with 2-6 inches for central Pennsylvania to northern New Jersey and southern Virginia. Highest totals will be from northeastern Virginia eastward to Delaware and southern New Jersey where 20 inches plus will be possible. Winds will also be quite gusty across the east with gusts to 35-45 mph being possible, especially in coastal areas. A few gusts to 50 mph will also be possible. Winds will then diminish through the overnight hours. Temperatures will run 3-7 degrees below normal across the north with readings 7-14 degrees below normal in the south.
Dry conditions are expected for tomorrow as high pressure builds in. Skies will remain mostly cloudy across the north but trend partly to mostly sunny to the southeast. Temperatures will again by 3-7 degrees below normal across the north with readings 7-14 degrees below normal for the south.
The county remains under a Level 3 snow emergency. According to the National Weather Service, an additional one to three inches is expected before the snow ends this morning around 10 a.m. or so.
That will bring snow totals to three to four inches throughout the county. Motorists can expect snow-covered roads and winds are expected to continue to gust to up to 35 mph, making visibility below 1 mile.
Today is expected to continue to be windy with a high of 27 degrees.
Ottawa County is not under a snow emergency.
Maryland is under a state of emergency today as a winter storm forecasters described as "extremely dangerous" spread across the area with potentially record-breaking snow totals and gale-force winds.
Accumulation rates as high as two to three inches an hour were seen overnight and buried the region in about two feet of snow.
If forecasters are right, another five to nine inches of snow could fall by the time the storm ends this evening. The national weather service reported varying measurements, from 32 inches in Elkridge to 5 inches in Salisbury.
Some 34,000 customers in the region were without power, and abandoned cars were scattered on state highways in the early morning today.
State highway spokesman David Buck said crews working overnight were struggling to keep one lane open on all highways, although they had fallen behind somewhat over the night as two to three inches an hour fell.
He said the crews were reporting 24 to 25 inches of snow had fallen along the I 95 corridor through Maryland with snow starting to pick up in Carroll County. "We have abandoned cars all over. People got curious as the sun came up ... People are waking up and thinking, 'Hey, time to go out. Wrong move,'" Buck said.
Motorists should not assume that if they can get out of their neighborhood they will find bare road, he said.
Many hours of the storm remain, Buck said, and people should stay home.
BGE spokeswoman Linda Foy said crews have already restored power to 26,000 customers overnight, but there are 34,000 customers currently without power, including about 8,600 in Baltimore County and 8,700 in Anne Arundel County. Crews from Tennessee and Kentucky are expected to arrive today with another contingent of lineman and support staff headed to Maryland from Ohio.
Blizzard warnings were posted through 10 p.m. today for the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, from Anne Arundel south to St. Mary's County, where falling snow and winds of more than 35 mph early today were expected to reduce visibility to less than a quarter-mile before easing later in the morning. The weather service added southern Baltimore, Harford, Charles and Prince George's counties, plus Baltimore City andthe District of Columbia, to the blizzard warnings Friday night.
"This extremely dangerous storm is expected to produce record snowfall for the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas," the National Weather Service said Friday night. "Travel conditions ... will be extremely hazardous and life-threatening. Help your state and local government first responders and transportation agencies by staying off the roads."
Before the first flake stuck Friday, schools across the state had closed or sent students home early. Many employers let workers telecommute or punch out early. Airlines canceled flights in and out of Baltimore, and Marylanders everywhere stocked up on food, shovels, beer and other essentials in anticipation of a long Super Bowl weekend at home in deep snow.
All day long Friday, forecasts from the National Weather Service and other sources escalated from the 1- to 2-foot range into 2- to 3-foot territory. Such totals would threaten all-time snow records in Washington and Baltimore.
Baltimore's biggest snowstorm to date is the 28.2 inches that fell Feb. 15-18, 2003. Washington's is the 28-inch "Knickerbocker Storm" of 1922. The storm was named for a Washington theater in which 98 people perished when the roof collapsed under the weight of snow.
What was stacking up to be a historic winter storm originated in the North Pacific, crossed the continent and picked up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Overnight, it was expected to "bomb out," or intensify, off the North Carolina coast and throw the equivalent of several inches of rain on the Mid-Atlantic states.
Bands of intense snowfall were expected, but none of that was apparent during daylight hours Friday. Light snow began to fall late in the morning. It arrived first in the Washington area, gradually spreading over Baltimore by 11 a.m., and later the Eastern Shore and points north.
With surface temperatures above freezing, little was sticking at first. Some Marylanders were quick to pronounce the much-ballyhooed storm a bust, but the night coverage validated closing and commuting policies put in place by many employers. A liberal leave policy was invoked for state workers Friday, giving them the option to head home early to avoid getting snared in a slippery evening rush hour.
Many commuters did leave work early. Traffic volume on the Beltway swelled soon after 1 p.m. But the pavement was no more than wet late into the afternoon, and highway speeds appeared normal.
Gov. Martin O'Malley joined the chorus urging Marylanders to "curl up with a book and stay off the roads," so highway crews could do their job.
"It's going to be a big snow," the governor told reporters at the state highway operations center in Hanover. "We are prepared to deal with whatever Mother Nature throws at us."
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