Capital Weather Gang: D.C.-area forecast: Deep freeze Thursday and Friday, snow and ice possible Friday night into Saturday

Tomorrow night: Winds slacken but remain on the breezy side through the night. With lows dropping into the teens, we’ll see wind chills sink into the single digits, and as low as near zero in our colder suburbs. Winds continue from the northwest, around 10-20 mph with some higher gusts. Confidence: High

The sun rises beyond National Harbor yesterday. (Nicole Kosar via Twitter)

A LOOK AHEAD

Our winds diminish Friday with the heart of the arctic air mass directly overhead. Highs remain frigid, in the mid-20s to near 30 with partly sunny skies, but it’s a less punishing cold thanks to the much lighter winds. Skies turn mostly cloudy Friday night with a decent chance of some snow developing around or after midnight, possibly mixing with sleet and/or freezing rain. Anything that falls will stick with temperatures in the 20s. Confidence: Low-Medium

The way it looks now, any snow accumulation early Saturday morning should be limited to around an inch or two, before changing over to all sleet and/or freezing rain during the early-to-mid morning, and then all plain rain by late morning into early afternoon. So it’s the first half of the day, through around noontime, that could well be an icy mess on the roads before conditions improve into the afternoon, when temperatures should rise into the 40s. But precipitation amounts and timing of change-overs are easily subject to change as we’re still a few days out. Confidence: Low-Medium

Could see a break in the rain for at least a portion of Saturday night as milder air surges in from the south. Overnight temperatures could rise to near or past 50, although they could still hold in the 40s if the warmer push is weaker than currently anticipated. More rain showers are likely Sunday as our next cold front comes through, but not before highs likely reach the 50s. Temperatures should plummet back into the 30s by late afternoon or evening, with another brief wintry mix possible Sunday night. Confidence: Low

SNOW POTENTIAL INDEX
A daily assessment of the potential for at least 1 inch of snow in the next week, on a 0-10 scale.

3/10 (↑): Brief period of snow late Friday night into early Saturday morning could flirt with an inch or so before change to ice and rain.