My obsession with snow started with the February 1979 Blizzard. I was fascinated by the 2 feet of snow and after that started drawing my own weather maps by hand during school — putting snowflakes over Virginia and a low-pressure system near Hatteras!
The 1983 Blizzard sucked me in for good. I thought I was the only snow geek in the world until I discovered a community of fellow weather weenies who loved snowstorms with the same passion I did. That's when I really started learning weather models and forecasting and how we get snow in the DC area. Knowing this now makes me wonder how we ever get snow!
So then for years, my audience was mostly family and friends, getting my forecasts through email. Then in 2010, some friends from church suggested I start a Facebook page. I was reluctant, so my friend Holly Grate took matters into her own hands and started it for me. It took me a few years to figure out how to actually get control of the page! 😂
The page grew slowly until the Blizzard of 2016. I had been forecasting the potential for that storm nearly two weeks out, and when it hit, the page suddenly took off. That was a strong Niño Winter (cough cough).
And here we are.
What started with hand-drawn maps and a lifelong obsession with snow has grown into Jay's Wintry Mix — a community of people who love weather, forecasting, trolling, and the occasional Mid-Atlantic snowstorm that sends everyone into complete chaos.
I'm still that same snow geek. I just have better computers now.
DMV-Wide Coverage
Home base is Loudoun County, but the coverage spans the whole DMV. If a storm is coming for the region, everyone needs to know about it.
Show Your Work
The models, the uncertainty, the reasoning — it's all explained in plain English so you can follow along, not just take a number on faith.
Community First
Free for everyone, always. Patreon supporters make the deep dives possible — but the forecasts stay accessible to the whole community.