Yes, there is a snowstorm coming for the East

The whispers started on social media over the weekend:

And yes, it's true. The possibility of a snowstorm in the East (the first this season for coastal areas). Here's a link to our story and the latest map; you'll be able to follow this story all week for more information:

For a more seasoned meteorological explanation of the possibilities, including how the storm could miss entirely, please watch this video by Bernie Rayno:

We had actually mentioned this possibility last week on Jan. 12, when the models started hinting at the situation.

The hype on social media yesterday and today has been way over the top, with people posting various forecast model accumulation charts (which then change radically within hours). This far out, that's never a good idea. Even within one model, predictions for D.C. were between 0 and 30 inches this morning. The problem with predicting snow this far out is that some of the models (I'm looking at you, GFS) predict a snowstorm (or several different ones) every week of the winter. For example, the GFS predicted a blockbuster snowstorm for the East Coast this past weekend, which didn't come to be.

Let's at least give it a couple days, then we can look at the SREF Plumes, which show the range of potential snowfalls for individual points (just don't be surprised if they still have quite a range). That will be tomorrow night or Wednesday. At that point, we'll have many more models to compare, as well.