How do they justify a winter storm watch with this forecast?

[Guest]

I mean come on, no mention of any "decent" frozen precip til Fri night yet they issue a WSW starting Thursday night..have they changed the criteria for issuing watches suddenly?

800 AM EST THU DEC 4 2003

DCZ001-VAZ054-042100-
ARLINGTON-DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ALEXANDRIA AND FALLS CHURCH...WASHINGTON
800 AM EST THU DEC 4 2003

...WINTER STORM WATCH THIS EVENING THROUGH SATURDAY...

.TODAY...PARTLY CLOUDY IN THE MORNING THEN BECOMING MOSTLY CLOUDY.
A SPRINKLE OR FLURRY POSSIBLE LATE. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 30S. LIGHT
WINDS.
.TONIGHT...RAIN DEVELOPING. EVENING LOWS IN THE LOWER 30S. LIGHT
WINDS BECOMING NORTHEAST 10 TO 15 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.
.FRIDAY...RAIN LIKELY. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 30S. NORTHEAST WINDS 10 TO
15 MPH. CHANCE OF RAIN 70 PERCENT.
.FRIDAY NIGHT...CLOUDY. CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW. LOWS IN THE LOWER
30S. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 50 PERCENT.
.SATURDAY...BREEZY. MOSTLY CLOUDY. CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW. HIGHS IN
THE UPPER 30S. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 40 PERCENT.
.SATURDAY NIGHT...BREEZY. MOSTLY CLOUDY. CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW
SHOWERS. LOWS IN THE LOWER 30S. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 30 PERCENT

[Guest]

I call that covering thier A S S E S! And as well i cant say i agree with that at all. Looks to be more of a frozen precip event then rain event as they would lead you to believe with that forecast!

And to think i thought the Cleveland NWS office was bad! OUCH!

[JCT777]

Unless they are planning to change that forecast by this afternoon, I agree that the forecast does not warrant a winter storm watch.

Mt. Holly has gone the other way, by not issuing a winter storm watch even though I would expect my area to see a decent amount of snow from Friday night through Saturday. Hopefully, they will issue this later today.