A winter storm that dumped over a foot of snow on part of western Virginia continues overnight Tuesday into early Wednesday with widespread freezing rain raising the prospect of power outages.
As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, there were relatively few power outages, with the only large cluster in Bedford County, where 3,300 utility customers were in the dark. With freezing rain continuing overnight in a large part of Virginia, falling on top of wet snow accumulation in much of the state, it is likely that there will be scattered to numerous power outages as tree limbs and power lines sag and break. (See update posted Wednesday morning.)
Ice accumulation from intermittent freezing rain Tuesday through early Thursday is expected to total up to ½ inch in much of Southwest Virginia along and west of the Blue Ridge, with at least some ice expected over all but the southwest corner and some eastern portions of Virginia.
Snow began in Southwest Virginia before dawn Tuesday and spread rapidly across the southern two-thirds of the state during the morning, before more slowly advancing into Northern Virginia. While accumulations of 1-4 inches were common along and south of the U.S. 460 corridor and 4-8 inches north of it, a corridor of western Virginia near Interstate 64 was buried under 8-15 inches, Clifton Forge reporting the highest amount.
Snow quickly changed to rain in the southwest and southeast corners of the state, but more gradually became mixed with and changed to sleet and freezing rain from the south and southwest elsewhere. By mid-evening Tuesday, snow continued in parts of Northern Virginia, but sleet and freezing rain continued to advance northward, putting a crusty coating on snowpack.
Travel became hazardous in many areas of the state, conditions that will continue into early Wednesday before gradual improvement. Paved roads still held some warmth from recent above-normal temperatures, but many eventually became slushy or covered by snow and ice as precipitation intensified.
VDOT said in a post on X that weather was a contributing factor in multiple tractor-trailers becoming disabled along Virginia 8 near the Floyd-Patrick county line, resulting in the route being closed in both directions for a few hours.
While temperatures are generally warming toward a surge of 40s and 50s on Thursday afternoon, enough cold air may remain over snowpack and banked against the mountains for additional freezing rain in some western areas of Virginia on Wednesday night and early Thursday.
Journalist Kevin Myatt has been writing about weather for 20 years. His weekly column, appearing on Wednesdays, is sponsored by Oakey’s, a family-run, locally-owned funeral home with locations throughout the Roanoke Valley. Sign up for his weekly newsletter:
