Freezing Rain

Federal government offices in the Washington D.C. area will open with an 11 a.m. "delayed arrival" Monday, after a freezing rain advisory predicted slick roads and icy conditions throughout Maryland and the District. Non-emergency employees have the option to take unscheduled leave or "telework," according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Emergency employees must report as scheduled. "Light icing on roadways and elevated surfaces will make traveling hazardous," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which issued the weather advisory about 1:30 p.m. Sunday; it remains in effect into Monday morning.

State Highway Administration officials are urging drivers to be careful during the Monday morning commute because freezing rain in the forecast may make the roads slick. As of 10 p.m. on Sunday, National Weather Service forecasters were calling for freezing rain in the Baltimore-Washington region between 4 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Monday, potentially mixed with sleet or snow in the early hours. Temperatures are expected to warm from an overnight of 31 degrees to the high 30s or low 40s. The State Highway Administration said it will not be pretreating the roads with salt, as the freezing rain will make treatment difficult.

Snow and sleet could move into a cloudy Baltimore region on Friday afternoon, complicating the afternoon commute and changing to rain or freezing rain in the evening hours, according to the National Weather Service. But forecasters said Friday morning the chances of any meaningful precipitation for the Baltimore area are waning. According to Foot's Forecast, " the storm has really fizzled before it can bring a hazardous commute today, but some smaller impacts are expected. " Foot's meteorologists note that the area hasn't seen a "signicant" snowfall in two years, since 2-6 inches fell Feb. 21-22, 2011.

Now, this is more like it.After unseasonably warm weather early last week, Maryland received a winter wake-up call yesterday, with almost every variation of precipitation -- rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow -- falling across the state.A repeat performance was promised for today."We will have a mixed bag of weather across the region," said Richard Diener, a forecaster with the National Weather Service at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. "There will be rain, sleet or snow depending on where you live and what time it is."

Marylanders still brushing off from last week's snowstorm, rush-hour chaos and power outages, were bracing for another winter blow Tuesday, this time a two-part ice storm that was set to begin overnight. Widespread icing of more than a quarter-inch is possible north and west of Baltimore before the storm ends Wednesday morning, forecasters said. As much as a half-inch of ice is possible along the Pennsylvania border. "When you get into the half-inch range you start to see a lot of significant damage.

The first snow of winter -- a biting, persistent fall that began in time to snarl the evening rush hour yesterday -- brought more snow to the metropolitan area in one evening than had fallen all year.With forecasters predicting up to 6 inches by midnight, snow that began midafternoon continued to fall heavily around most of Maryland at 11 p.m. By then, snow emergency plans were in effect statewide and nearly 5 inches had accumulated in Baltimore.Until yesterday, only 3.2 inches of snow had fallen in the Baltimore area this year, most of it in March.

An all-day drizzle in sub-freezing temperatures caked Maryland in ice yesterday, closing schools, grounding airplanes, causing traffic accidents -- including one fatal wreck in Howard County -- and making traveling treacherous whether on foot or by car.Baltimore area temperatures hovered around 30 degrees at midnight with freezing rain expected through early today. Warmer air was expected to melt ice downtown and around the area by sunrise, but freezing temperatures were to continue in northern and western suburbs.

At the tail end of the wettest and snowiest December on record, and topping off one of the city's wettest years, it looks like the area is in for more rain and snow before ringing in the new year. The National Weather Service is forecasting a 60 percent chance for a "wintry mix" of precipitation on New Year's Eve, continuing through the night. The area might see sunshine today, but the bad weather is expected to start as snow after 1 a.m., changing to freezing rain and then rain by Thursday afternoon.

Maryland commuters could face some icy steps and slippery roads Wednesday morning in the wake of a complex winter storm that refused to play out as forecasters had predicted. Instead of the 3 to 5 inches of snow the National Weather Service had expected for Central Maryland, the overnight forecast called for a mix of snow, sleet and freezing drizzle across the Baltimore region, becoming all snow after 10 p.m. Accumulations of snow and sleet could reach 1 to 2 inches by daybreak from Baltimore north and east, a frozen trace elsewhere.