No service can say exactly which day it will first snow in Washington, DC, more than about 1–2 weeks in advance, but seasonal outlooks give some guidance.

Short-term vs seasonal

• For the next 7–10 days, specialized forecasts show no specific snow events currently expected in DC; any snow chance would appear only within that shorter-range forecast window.

• To know if snow is coming “soon,” check a reliable daily forecast app or site and look specifically for wintry precipitation chances over the next week or so.

This winter in DC

• Local winter outlooks for 2025–26 call for roughly average or slightly below-average seasonal snow totals in the DC metro, on the order of about 8–20 inches depending on the exact location.

• These outlooks also suggest a relatively “slow start” in December (a few inches possible for the month) with higher odds for more significant storms in January and some additional snow potential in February.

Practical advice

• If you care about the first flakes, start watching the detailed 7–10 day forecast in late November and through December; that is when the first light events are climatologically common in DC, even in lower-snow winters.

• For planning (travel, school, work), treat anything beyond about 10 days as general risk guidance rather than a specific snow day prediction, since storm tracks in this region are highly sensitive to small pattern changes.