Arlington Public Schools has yet to announce any sort of delay Monday, despite concerns about freezing rain.
ABC 7 meteorologist Steve Rudin doesn’t think that’s such a good idea.
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Weather
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Arlington County and much of the D.C. region is now under a Freezing Rain Advisory.
Forecasters say a period of light freezing rain is possible tomorrow morning, making travel hazardous.
Wind chills will drop below zero as the temperature drops and winds gust up to 35 miles per hour, according to forecasters.
The county’s Emergency Winter Shelter in Courthouse is open all day today and is expected to remain open during the day tomorrow.
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(Updated at 4:45 p.m.) The snow has stopped and the sun came out this afternoon, but the bad weather news might not be over yet with below-freezing temperatures expected tonight and tomorrow.
Arlington is continuing its efforts to clear the roads and is on Phase 3 of its snow removal process, clearing residential side streets, county staff said this afternoon.
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(Updated at 11:10 a.m.) Arlington County officials say more snow arrived than they expected this morning — 3 inches so far, according to the National Weather Service — leading to widespread traffic, transit delays and accidents.
The NWS declared a Winter Storm Warning just after 9:00 a.m., now predicting the region gets more than 4 inches of snow by 1:00 p.m. Several of the accidents this morning have involved school buses, and the Arlington County Police Department tweeted that they received 71 calls for traffic accidents between 6:00 and 10:00 a.m.
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(Updated at 10:25 a.m.) This morning’s commute is officially a traffic nightmare for anyone still out on the roads.
The map above shows just how bad traffic is around the region as two and a half inches of slick, powdery snow have fallen. Numerous accidents have been reported around the county as students make their way to school and commuters make their way to work.
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(Updated at 7:30 a.m.) Roads are covered with white, powdery snow as Arlington and the rest of the D.C. region gets its first snow of the year and first measurable snow of the season.
Several accidents have been reported around Arlington as an inch or so of snow has made driving treacherous. The crashes are happening throughout the county — on I-395, Glebe Road at Route 50, Wilson Blvd and elsewhere.
Forecasters say the area could get 1-2 inches of snow Tuesday morning. The timing of the storm might make the morning commute miserable.
Arlington County crews have started pre-treating roads and bike trails with brine, as part of a “Phase 1: Alert” snow removal status.
Four out of ten D.C. area residents — nearly 2.5 million people — are expected to travel 50 miles or more during the 13-day holiday travel period around Christmas and New Year’s, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.
That’s up 3.3 percent from 2013.
The timing of the storm, on one of the busiest travel day of the year, could create major problems on local highways and byways.
VDOT urges drivers to “use extra caution, particularly on bridges, overpasses, curves, hills and ramps, which become slippery first,” as the snow starts falling later today. Crews are not pre-treating roads since the rain would just wash the treatment away.
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(Updated at 1:15 p.m.) The National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning for Arlington this afternoon as a dangerous storm system rolled through the area.
The tornado warning has since been canceled, but a flood watch remains in effect through 8:00 p.m. (See below.)
An approaching cold front will bring the potential for flooding and damaging winds, according to forecasters. Some higher-elevation areas to our west are under a wind advisory starting at 6:00 tonight.
This afternoon, the National Weather Service issued the following advisory for the D.C. area.