Opinion

Morning Poll: Big snowstorm on tap this winter?

By ARLnow.com
Snow removal in Clarendon on Feb. 6, 2010 (file photo)

After several years of relatively meager winters, could this upcoming season have a big snowstorm on tap for us?

There’s some early suggestion of an elevated chance of large coastal winter storms between January and March, owing in part to a particularly intense El Niño climate pattern.

Of course, such a pattern could also leave Arlington high and dry again.

“Of the seven strong El Niño winters since 1950, four have been associated with well above normal snowfall while snowfall was virtually absent in the other three winters,” the National Weather Service wrote about winters in metro D.C. and Baltimore.

Climate prognosticating — it’s an inexact science, just ask the groundhog — has been raising the hopes of snow lovers this month, with some models suggesting a cold and snowy winter is likely for the Mid-Atlantic region.

The last really big winter storm to hit Arington was the Jan. 22-23, 2016 blizzard. The three large snow events of the winter of 2009-2010, meanwhile, are still fresh in the minds of many locals who lived through them.

What do you think? Would you welcome another big snowstorm this winter or do you prefer the mostly snowless winters of late?