Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) It should be a gentler introduction to the winter season as the D.C. region sees its first snowfall of the season on a Saturday, hopefully less of a nuisance thanks to its timing over the weekend.
The National Weather Service expects most of the D.C. area to see two to four inches by the time the storm wraps up mid-afternoon Saturday. As the center of the storm is offshore, more snow is expected to the south and east of the city, up to six inches in Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore. A Winter Storm Warning was issued for Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties. A dusting to two inches is expected to the west of the city.
Road crews were out and about pre-treating roads Friday night, and expect to be out salting and plowing on Saturday.
“We pre-treat in those areas with lower temperatures, and then we have our crews ready to go with 345,000 tons of salt, and 1.4 million gallons of salt brine,” said Maryland State Highways Administrator Greg Slater. “We always advise people, whether it’s a small amount of snow or a large amount of snow, if you don’t have to travel, don’t travel. Put off whatever you can.”
The Virginia Department of Transportation said it completed two days of anti-icing roads by midday Friday. It advises drivers not to overdrive the conditions and be aware of other drivers who may be less comfortable driving in adverse weather conditions.
Many area school districts announced the cancellation of Saturday extracurricular and sports activities. Notably, ACT testing was postponed in Alexandria, Howard, and Charles County schools.
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