Fed. Government Skips Town with Snow on the Horizon

While talk of freezes in last night's State of the Union may have sent chills down Federal employees' spines, the Office of Personnel Management is sending workers home early today due to a more natural threat: snow.

In order to avoid travel on roads that are predicted to become increasingly ice-covered as the afternoon moves forward, employees have been granted permission to leave their offices inside the District two hours earlier than usual.

As of now, GWU officials have announced no deviations from normal operations for either Wednesday or Thursday, but will be monitoring the situation throughout the afternoon as conditions worsen.

The National Weather Service upgraded its winter storm watch to an official warning around noon today, including with it an updated forecast predicting 5-10 inches by midnight Wednesday.  The snow, predicted to start in the mid-afternoon, will be at its hardest during the late afternoon rush hour.  Visibility will fall to less than a quarter mile and accumulation could reach up to 2 inches per hour.

Forecasts have been trending towards the severe as the day progresses.  Less than 24 hours before the National Weather Service issued its winter storm warning, some outlets questioned whether the District would see any accumulation at all; current predictions from NOAA, however, put the odds of an 8"+ snowfall at 40%, and 4"+ at over 70%.

This story is developing; stay WRGW News for the latest information on weather, class cancellations and much more.