DELMARVA FORECAST
Thursday night: Increasing clouds. Cold. Lows in the low to mid 20s.
Friday: Mostly cloudy with a chance of a light rain or snow shower. Highs in the upper 30s. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.
Saturday: Partly to mostly cloudy. Highs in the mid 40s.
Sunday: Mostly cloudy, cold, and breezy with snow in the morning. Highs in the mid 30s, feeling like 20°F. Chance of snow 70 percent.
Monday: Partly to mostly sunny, cold, and breezy. Highs in the low 30s, feeling like 20°F.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the low 40s.
Wednesday: Partly cloudy and milder. Highs near 50°F.
FORECAST DISCUSSION
Normal high: 51°F. Normal low: 32°F.
Cold weather continues to be the weather headline on Delmarva, which could lead to our next headline: accumulating snow on Sunday.
After a cold front passed last night, gusty northwest winds have suppressed temperatures on Delmarva in the upper 30s, with wind chills in the upper 20s.
A weak clipper system will approach from the northwest overnight, bringing increased clouds through Friday morning, and keeping our Friday on the mostly cloudy side. The clipper system won't have much moisture to deal with, but we could see some light snow showers Friday afternoon. No significant accumulation is expected, save for maybe a dusting here and there. It stays cold, though, with afternoon highs struggling once again to get out of the 30s.
High pressure will briefly move on on Saturday, which will be the better of the two weekend days. Skies will be partly to mostly cloudy, but more notably, temperatures, while still below normal, will be milder, in the mid 40s.
Then a more impressive clipper system approaches Saturday night.
Confidence is slowly increasing that this system will have enough moisture to bring some accumulating snowfall to Delmarva Sunday morning. Clipper systems don't typically have a lot of moisture, so we're not expecting blockbuster snowfall. But a few inches of accumulating snowfall is increasingly likely, mainly over the Maryland Midshore and Delaware. Lesser to no accumulation is expected on the Lower Eastern Shore and south, with no accumulation expected at this time along the Atlantic Coast. Confidence is still not great with this forecast as not all of our guidance is totally on board with accumulating snow; one model is putting out no more than a dusting. Stay tuned for updates over the next 48 to 60 hours.
Monday will be bitterly cold (for this time of year) with highs around freezing along with a gusty northwest wind.
Milder temperatures make a return by the end of next week.
In the long range, temperatures are expected to average above normal, and precipitation below normal for December 18 - December 24.