If the National Weather Service is on target, a blizzard that will deposit 4 to 8 inches of snow will hit the Baltimore area shortly after midnight tonight.
"Possible blizzard conditions are forecast," Barry Goldsmith, a weather service meteorologist at Sterling, Va., said last night. "All the conditions and timing are very good for a major snowstorm."
He said Baltimore City should "look for a good dose of snow."
At least 4 to 8 inches could land in the city, and 12 inches to 2 feet in the northern suburbs and parts of Western Maryland, Mr. Goldsmith said.
Snow could fall all day tomorrow in the Baltimore area before turning to flurries Sunday morning, the weather service said.
"The worst of the storm will be between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. tomorrow and between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. tomorrow," Mr. Goldsmith said.
He said conditions for a major snowstorm are similar to those that caused the blizzard of 1993 when nearly 2 feet of snow fell on the metropolitan area.
Mr. Goldsmith said very frigid air from the Plains states will combine with moist and warm air from the Carolinas, to set off a snowstorm throughout much of Maryland that will be full of energy, heavy snow and extremely high winds.
"You will not want to be out and about Saturday afternoon," he said.
Only 0.5 inch of snow has fallen on instruments at the airport -- 0.2 inches on the night before Thanksgiving, and 0.3 inches last Saturday. No snow fell in December, the first time that's happened since 1978.