Residents of Central Maryland awoke to a snowy surprise this morning as snow showers - some quite heavy for a time - coated roads with a slick fluffy carpet of trouble. Schools have closed or delayed this morning, and there were early road accidents all over the place.

Here's the current radar loop. Here's the story. And here's the official forecast. And here is the report from CoCoRaHS. And from the NWS. Two inches in parts of Howard and Carroll County seems to be the most on the report.

Forecast discussions out of Sterling at 9:30 last night hinted at the possibility of snow overnight. They noted:

"... A WEAK SURFACE TROUGH OVER CENTRAL PA THAT IS PINWHEELING AROUND THE LARGE AREA OF LOW
PRESSURE OFF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. THIS WILL APPROACH NORTHERN
MARYLAND OVERNIGHT PERHAPS BRINGING A BETTER CHANCE FOR SNOW
SHOWERS. WITH TEMPS DROPPING BELOW FREEZING. SNOW SHOWERS MAY WHITEN
THE GROUND IN SOME SPOTS MAKING FOR SLIPPERY CONDITIONS OVERNIGHT."

Well, they did. The 3 a.m. discussion noted some impressive accumulations from these "snow showers":

"IT HAS BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR A QUICK INCH OR TWO OF SNOW SHOWERS IN CARROLL COUNTY AS OF 1 AM...AND IT HAS CONTINUED TO SNOW SINCE THEN. FOR PERSPECTIVE...
LANCASTER COUNTY PA REPORTED 8-9 INCHES OF SNOW OVERNIGHT...IN RATES 2-3
INCHES PER HOUR."

Of course, everybody was asleep as all this was developing. Hence, the wake-up surprise. Clearly the potential significance of this snow threat was largely missed in the forecasts, and Sterling - like the road crews - has been playing catch-up ever since.