The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for the D.C. region tonight as forecasters are calling for an inch of snow with below-freezing temperatures.

The NWS expects accumulation of about an inch of snow with an 80 percent chance of precipitation, starting in the early evening but “mainly after 9:00 p.m.” Combined with a predicted low temperature around 12 degrees, the NWS predicts potentially hazardous road conditions.


Update at 8:15 a.m. — County government offices and courts will open at 10:00 a.m. From Arlington Alert: “County plows are working around the clock, but road conditions remain slippery. If you must drive, please exercise caution.”

Arlington Public Schools will be closed Wednesday.


(Updated at 3:45 p.m.) Road conditions around Arlington are bad and are only expected to get worse as today’s snowstorm increases in intensity around rush hour.

Numerous crashes, involving cars, postal vehicles and buses, have been reported on Arlington’s roads and highways this afternoon. Other vehicles are getting stuck or spinning out of control on snow-covered hills. Sections of George Mason Drive and Carlin Springs Road are particularly treacherous, we hear.


Non-emergency federal employees will have the day off, unless their office requires them to telework.

“Telework-Ready Employees who are scheduled to perform telework on the effective day of the announcement or who are required to perform telework on a day when Federal offices are closed must telework the entire workday or request leave, or a combination of both, in accordance with their agency’s policies and procedures, subject to any applicable collective bargaining requirements,” according to the Office of Personnel Management.


With 4-8 inches of snow likely, Arlington County says its crews are in a “Phase 1 alert” and are “prepped and ready to go.”

“We called in a team today to hook up our trucks with chains, spreaders and plows,” said Shannon Whalen McDaniel, spokeswoman for Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services. “We will also brine the roads throughout the night in preparation.”


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