The DMV is predicted to have one to three blizzards this winter with more snow than the average, starting in late December, early January with most weather stations predicting 12 to 20 inches of snowfall in the Washington D.C. area.
An El Nino is heading into winter for the first time in four years, it may cause a rise in temperatures creating a warmer winter. El Nino occurs in periods where warmer waters cause the Pacific jet stream to move south of its neutral position. With the shift, areas in the northern parts of the United States and Canada are much dryer and warmer than usual.
DMV Winter 2023-2024 Outlook,” writer Mike Thomas said.”The stronger the El Niño does not necessarily mean the higher our risk for snowstorms and blizzards.”
El Nino could have some impact on global warming and how much snow will fall with some days being above 40 degrees. So far this 2024, the highest temperature recorded was 72 degrees on January 26, 2024.
“We divide the tropical waters where El Niño is found into four sections, simply named Niño one, two, three, and four,” Thomas said. “How the warm waters are spread through these zones, and their intensity, has been found to impact what type of winter we have here in the eastern half of the country.”
In January of 2024 the DMV had a little over a foot of snow. Many schools in Virginia have canceled school due to storm conditions leaving roads very icey and unsafe for buses and students to drive in.
“I think global warming has had an impact on how much snow we get in Virginia,” junior Benjamin Marshall said. “In Northern Virginia we’re on the edge of where states get snow regularly which normally means we’ll get snow.”
On New Year’s Day 2024, there was a little bit of snow fall but it didn’t stick to the ground and it just turned into sleet and rain. So far the DMV has had lots of rain, if the temperatures were cold enough we would have many feet of snow.
“I feel that the weather channel is almost never accurate because they sometimes forecast the entire winter months before the month even starts,” Marshall said. “They always say that there’s going to be more snow than the past year, but we haven’t had much snow these past few years.”
Even for this winter, the weather stations started predicting the winter forecast in November of 2023, and fall has barely just begun. The weather is always changing so there is no need to predict the winter snowfall so early because there’s not enough information.
“I thought we would actually get a lot of snow last year based on what the News Channels were saying,” Principal Kevin Tyson said. “This year I’m not getting my hopes up, I’ll just be surprised if it actually snows.”
Last year news reports said we were going to get at least two feet of snow, but there was no snow. The closest Virginia got to snow was sleet/rain and ice. The LCPS School Board closed school that day but we had no other snow days in the 2022-2023 school year.
“I always like having the day off so I wasn’t mad when they canceled school.” Tyson said. “It was just annoying that there wasn’t even snow on the ground and we didn’t even get any other days off.”
Hopefully all the winter Weather Channel reports for the DMV and Virginia area will be accurate and we will get at least some snow this winter. It would be nice to see snow stick to the ground and not just melt right away.
“It’s sad that the kids didn’t get to see much snow last year,” math Teacher Sarah Roos said. “I hope this year we get a lot of snow and we can use up all 15 snow days the School Board gives us.”
