D.C. region sees its first snow of season most in nearly 2 years for some

Publish date: 2024-07-30

The storm system that produced a rainy Sunday across the Washington region drew in enough cold air for precipitation to switch to snow in the pre-dawn hours Monday. The slushy snow even delayed a few school systems Monday morning.

Rain switched to snow from northwest to southeast between about midnight and 2 a.m. The snow fell heavily at times through 4 a.m. Even though snow mostly accumulated on grassy areas, it came down hard enough for a bit of slush to build up on roads for a time — even well-traveled ones such as the Beltway and Interstate 66. Claps of thunder even accompanied the snow in Glen Burnie, Md.

Remarkably, the snow followed temperatures that soared to 60 degrees between 6 and 7 p.m. Sunday before a cold front barreled through, dropping them about 25 degrees in six hours. Most places at low elevations remained at or above freezing (between about 32 and 36 degrees) as it snowed, but the flakes fell hard enough for the modest accumulation.

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From the Beltway and points east, snow totals were generally under an inch, but around 0.5 to 2.5 inches fell in colder areas to the west and north. These amounts exceeded most forecasts for just a slushy coating.

In some areas, the snow exceeded totals for all of last winter. The 0.5 inches that fell at Dulles International Airport topped the 2022-2023 winter total of 0.4 inches, for example. However, not enough snow fell to end the airport’s record-long streak without at least one inch of snow on a calendar day.

Reagan National Airport received its first accumulating snow of the season, posting a wet coating of 0.1 inches.

Here’s a roundup of area amounts (more reports are available from the National Weather Service):

Up to 4 inches fell in the mountains of western Virginia, West Virginia and Western Maryland.

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The snow ended between 5 and 7 a.m. as the storm system swept off to the east. Monday’s forecast calls for clearing skies but a blustery chill.

Before the snow, the region received considerable rainfall. Although the potential for flooding did not materialize, widespread totals ranged from 1 to 3 inches.

The heaviest totals of 2 to 3 inches occurred east and southeast of the Beltway. In the area close to the Beltway, totals around 1.5 inches were most common. At the airports, rainfall totals were 1.68 inches at Reagan National, 1.77 inches at Dulles and 1.93 inches at BWI.

Below, find some snowy scenes shared with us via X, formerly known as Twitter:

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