Blame global warming…surely that must be the reason…
Seriously though…it now appears likely that the entire I-95 corridor (and points NW in particular) will experience a shocking early-season snow storm that could break records in the coastal plain for earliest significant snows and most snow in October. Not that that is saying much…and I don’t anticipate catastrophic problems, but don’t be surprised to see the ground lit up with white by Sunday morning.
From DC (0.5 to 1.5″) – (Note these are grass accumulations only…urban areas may struggle due to heat island effects and pavement overload)
to Baltimore (1-3″)
to Philadelphia (2-3″)
to New York (2-4″)
to Boston (2-4″)…
the entire area will be wondering what happened to fall. Especially since most of the trees are still green, let alone still foliated. Along the New England coast, trees down and power outages (due to a bad combination of wind and snow) will make things treacherous, and even to the coastal islands (Cape Code, Long Island), don’t be surprised if snow sticks to the grass.
Once you head into the interior of Southern New England and the Mid Atlantic, especially above 500 feet in elevation, there could easily be 3-6″ (and locally higher amounts) of heavy wet snow and that is a recipe for tree damage and some very confused citizenry.
All of this is made possible by a rare combination of subtropical energy extracted from dying Hurricane Rina and a sharp shot of cold air into the Northeast from an unusually cold Canada. So get out your gloves and winter coats and find your snow brushes and shovels…you’re gonna need ’em.
everymatt 
A bit of an update:
We're getting a better read on the storm now and it's looking considerably more intense (and windier) by the hour. Some folks in the Northeast could be dealing with a dangerous situation at this point…from N NJ and S Upstate NY to C CT and MA to E ME, this could wind up being, for a few hours, a wet and wild blizzard and many people could be without power before it's over.
Stay tuned.
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I saw a few plows while I was out on the road today, which I thought was kind of hilarious. I was thinking to myself, “Hmm. Somehow I doubt we're going to get anything more than a dusting (if that) here in Woodbridge.”
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I think right along 95, you'll be getting an inch or so on the grass and probably not a lot on the roads…but NW of you in Reston and Sterling…could be 2 or 3 inches there…and slush on the secondary roads.
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