By CATHY DYSON

A meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Sterling is confident of two things, in terms of the winter storm that's been on the radar for days.

"We're pretty certain that the whole area's going to get some snowfall," Jim Lee said.

He's also confident that the inch count will be higher to the east of Interstate 95 and lower to the west of it.

Forecasters predicted that the city of Fredericksburg, and Orange and Spotsylvania counties would get 3 to 5 inches of snow today. King George County, the rest of the Northern Neck and southern Maryland could get more--between 6 and 10 inches, Lee said. Meanwhile, Stafford County was expected to see between 1 and 3 inches.

The storm was expected to start before dawn this morning and continue for about 18 hours, Lee said.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the area, saying the chance of snow today is near 100 percent.

For days, forecasters were unable to predict how much snow--if any--might fall because the storm was expected to develop rapidly as it approached the mid-Atlantic coast. Any deviations in the rate of development or the storm's track would affect the amount of snowfall, according to the Capital Weather Gang website.

Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com