NWS: "The potential is there" for historic snowfall

WASHINGTON - Chris Strong, meteorologist at the National Weather Service, joined FOX 5's Tucker Barnes for a look at the potentially historic snowstorm moving into our area.

Strong said that a new tool his department is using this season views the winter storm threat from about 4 to 7 days out. (LINK: http://www.weather.gov/lwx/winter#wsoutlook) The new measurement looks at the threat impact and looks at planning issues that may occur due to the storm.

"The potential is there. Anybody that grew up in the area or has been around the area for a long time -- think back to January 1996 and 2010 -- some of the big storms -- this storm has the potential to be one of those," Strong said.

"The devil is in the details," Strong said when talking about snow totals and times. He agrees with Tucker in that the rain / snow line will play into how much and where.

If it starts late enough on the day on Friday, then it probably won't have too much of an impact on our routines. If it starts earlier then we could be talking about closures, early dismissals or things like that. Those are the details we will have to refine as we go through the next 48 hours.

Strong said he expects the National Weather Service to issue Storm Watches later Wednesday and that first forecast snow totals should also be ready later in the afternoon.