ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
With Western Virginia expected to get more rain than forecasters originally predicted, weather service officials issued a flood watch Thursday night for the New River Valley and extreme Southwest Virginia.
Jeff Stewart, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service's Blacksburg office, said some areas received a quarter-inch of rain by 8:30 p.m. Thursday while other localities, including Botetourt County, got three-fourths of an inch in the same period.
Before the rain started, meteorologists looked for about a half-inch to an inch to fall, but Stewart said accumulations could reach an inch and a half.
"We're most concerned with what happens from midnight to 8 a.m.," Stewart said. "That's when we expect the hardest rain to come in."
Officials were keeping their eyes on creeks and streams, many of which were already full after nearly 3 feet of snow from last week's storm melted.
Jerry Stenger of the state climatology office in Charlottesville said urban areas could experience flooding if street drains are still blocked with snow.
Stewart said the rain should end this morning and may turn to snow in the New River Valley and extreme Southwest Virginia, but he doesn't expect any accumulation.
At the Roanoke Regional Airport Thursday, it was fog, not rain, that was causing problems.
The airport was shut down most of the day because fog had cut visibility below the minimum needed for landings. "It's been a weather month," noted Mark Courtney, the airport's director of planning and marketing. "What can you say?"
The airport also was closed two days last week after the snowfall and on New Year's Day when fog kept all planes from landing except for one chartered jet coming in from the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
Planes that stayed overnight at the airport Wednesday were able to take off Thursday morning and afternoon, but no planes had been able to land through late afternoon, Courtney said. That included flights by such freight carriers as United Parcel Service and Federal Express.
The landing standards used by USAir require a cloud ceiling of at least 450 feet and one mile of visibility. Takeoffs require only a quarter-mile of visibility, Courtney said. Visibility at the airport was ranging from one-eighth to one-quarter of a mile through midafternoon Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Pilots had better luck landing from 7 to 8:30 Thursday night, according to Larry Cole, an air traffic controller. He said six commercial planes landed when the visibility increased to one mile, but more fog rolled in and visibility decreased to half a mile. Conditions continued to fluctuate throughout the evening, he said. He hoped the rain would drive away some of the fog to allow more landings.
When the airport is closed, the airlines lose revenue but still incur the expense of having employees on duty, Courtney said. The airport itself loses landing fees it charges the airlines.
Still, the airlines tend to make up the lost revenue later, with the exception of business trips that might have been canceled, he said. For instance, since reopening after the snowstorm, flights have been more crowded than usual for this time of year, he said.
The airport is not closed that often, Courtney pointed out. In 1995, it was open 97 percent of the time and, a year earlier, 98 percent of the time, he said.
Staff writer Betty Hayden contributed to this story.
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