Winter Storm — District of Columbia, District of Columbia

2011-01-26 · District of Columbia, District of Columbia

Event narrative

Snowfall was estimated to average around five inches across the District of Columbia. A fatality occurred when a tree fell onto a truck near Oregon Avenue. The tree fell due to the weight of the snow.

Wider weather episode

A potent area of low pressure was located over the Tennessee Valley on the morning of Wednesday, January 26th. The warm front associated with the low triggered a period of mixed precipitation early Wednesday morning. There was enough warm air behind the warm front for precipitation to fall in the form of light rain and drizzle later in the morning into the afternoon.

The low passed through the area late in the afternoon into the evening. A burst of heavier precipitation was associated with the low and at the same time colder air was drawn into the system. This caused a period of heavy snow to bring significant snow accumulation to the area in a short period of time. The heavy snow which fell around the evening rush hour caused numerous traffic accidents and there were also numerous power outages due to the heavy snow weighing on trees and power lines.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 278686. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.