For those wondering about the cold, the end of the 18z OP GFS has DC not getting out of the upper 20s on Inauguration Day. Sub zero air in Canada and the Great Lakes.
He thinks this is a quick snow to rain for everyone, but admits it's several days off. From my conservations with Wes over the years, he's generally pessimistic about potential snow events in La Nina winters in these parts.
WRT to 12z EPS, the mean/individual members are not as wound up as the OP. It would argue all snow for everyone north of St. Mary's city. Hope we see the GFS start to catch on.
Agreed. Standard caveat is that folks should always have low expectations going into this and be happy with what we get. To see this in a La Nina pattern is pretty amazing.
12z EPS sets up decent western ridge and maintains the stout -NAO. Cross polar flow tries to show up around Jan 16th. This is a signal that has existed for the past 24 hours:
EPS sets up cross polar flow and a western ridge towards the end of the run. To have it show up on the ensembles and not some rogue OP run is important and boost confidence in this solution: