Kevin Myatt

Wind, ice and flooding contributed to pushing power outages across Virginia over 200,000 twice in four days.

Strong westerly winds gusting over 50 mph were bringing in Arctic air, setting up a likely midweek snowfall.

Rain will subside on Sunday, but winds will kick up, likely causing more tree and power line damage. Snow is likely for Virginia by Wednesday.

The outages are two-thirds of what they were during Helene. Temperatures are expected to reach the 40s today over much of Southwest and Southside Virginia, but gusty winds behind a cold front may bring more ice-laden limbs down.

The last several days’ weather has varied from lightning bolts to freezing rain — even happening at the same time.

Temperatures may rise a few critical degrees to just above freezing later today over parts of the southern half of Virginia, but progress will be stubborn with widespread snow cover and cold air being banked against the higher terrain.

Up to 15 inches of snow fell on western Virginia, but precipitation was continuing as freezing rain into Wednesday.

Snow, sleet and freezing rain are expected to cover most of Virginia on Tuesday, with slick roads and power outages likely to develop.

Variable factors could still raise or lower snowfall amounts especially in a stripe across Cardinal News’ Southwest and Southside coverage area.

While cold-air damming is bringing a one-day break in this week’s mild temperatures, more significant cold is likely next week with possibly some ice or snow.