Forecast Details for Columbia, MD

Recent Locations: Columbia, MD

Current Alerts for Columbia, MD: Winter Weather Advisory

Overnight: A slight chance of snow after 4am. Cloudy, with a low around 29. North wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Wednesday: A chance of snow before 4pm, then a chance of rain and snow. Cloudy, with a high near 36. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Wednesday Night: Sleet likely, possibly mixed with rain and snow before 1am, then freezing rain, possibly mixed with sleet. Low around 30. Southeast wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New ice accumulation of less than a 0.1 of an inch possible. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Thursday: Rain, possibly mixed with sleet, becoming all rain after 7am. High near 45. Southeast wind 6 to 9 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New sleet accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Thursday Night: A chance of rain before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38. Southwest wind around 7 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 47.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 26.

Saturday: Snow and sleet, mainly after 1pm. High near 35. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Saturday Night: Rain likely, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 32. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 49.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 27.

Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 39.

Monday Night: A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 27. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Tuesday: Rain and snow. High near 36. Chance of precipitation is 90%.

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Current U.S. National Radar--Current

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National Weather Forecast--Current

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National Weather Forecast for Tomorrow

Tomorrow National Weather Forecast and Tomorrow National Weather Map are show below.

North America Water Vapor (Moisture)

This map shows recent moisture content over North America. Bright and colored areas show high moisture (ie, clouds); brown indicates very little moisture present; black indicates no moisture.

Weather Topic: What is Precipitation?

Home - Education - Precipitation - Precipitation

Next Topic: Rain

Precipitation can refer to many different forms of water that may fall from clouds. Precipitation occurs after a cloud has become saturated to the point where its water particles are more dense than the air below the cloud.

In most cases, precipitation will reach the ground, but it is not uncommon for precipitation to evaporate before it reaches the earth's surface. When precipitation evaporates before it contacts the ground it is called Virga. Graupel, hail, sleet, rain, drizzle, and snow are forms of precipitation, but fog and mist are not considered precipitation because the water vapor which constitutes them isn't dense enough to fall to the ground.

Next Topic: Rain

Weather Topic: What are Shelf Clouds?

Home - Education - Cloud Types - Shelf Clouds

Shelf Clouds Next Topic: Sleet

A shelf cloud is similar to a wall cloud, but forms at the front of a storm cloud, instead of at the rear, where wall clouds form.

A shelf cloud is caused by a series of events set into motion by the advancing storm; first, cool air settles along the ground where precipitation has just fallen. As the cool air is brought in, the warmer air is displaced, and rises above it, because it is less dense. When the warmer air reaches the bottom of the storm cloud, it begins to cool again, and the resulting condensation is a visible shelf cloud.

Next Topic: Sleet