Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 25, 1993 TAG: 9302250060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
IT'S GONNA SNOW! MAYBE!
Keep your fingers crossed, Virginia. Snow's on the way - today.People are talking about it. The Virginia Department of Transportation's vanguard of snowplows stands ready. The National Weather Service is predicting it.
This time we're certain.
Maybe.
"We've sort of got a good handle on it - let's put it that way," said the weather service's Kane Galleo Wednesday night.
Wednesday, the weather service issued a winter storm watch - for tonight - advising Southwest Virginians to expect 4 inches or more.
More than a foot of snow was dumped on some Midwestern states Wednesday, with the system heading east.
When it clashes with cold air already here - Wednesday's high was 35 degrees, and the high today was predicted to be in the low 30s - voila! Snow!
The masses await.
"There's a real spirit of expectation in the air," said Laura Bullock, community affairs coordinator for the highway department's Salem district. "This could be the one."
If so, she foresees 9,200 miles of roadway in 12 counties awash in white - and more than 800 employees, some fresh from their office desks, manning 340 snowplows and other heavy equipment to clear a path for motorists.
Some consumers were taking steps early.
"Quite a few people are stocking up on food. . . . We're getting close on bread," said Neil Parcell, an employee at the 7 Day Market in Pearisburg.
"No one expected a real big one this late in the year," said Tommy Smith, manager of Lowe's hardware on Orange Avenue Northeast. "They're taking it seriously."
Customers were buying salt and the last of the store's electric heaters, he said.
At Orange Market in Hanging Rock, Alice Blankenship guffawed when asked if it had been busy.
"My gas pump has not stopped. They're excited," she said. "If it starts snowing tomorrow, they'll all start packing in."
Not everyone seemed worried, though.
"Most everybody up here has got four-wheel drives," said John Switzer, owner of the Pine Top Inn about two miles outside of New Castle. "Everyone's pretty much laid back in these parts of the country."
If snow comes, it comes. "We're due one," he said.
Indeed. It's been more than three years - December 1989, when 11 inches fell - since these parts have seen any significant snow.
In the past three winters, including this one, a total of only 12 inches has fallen. The weather service says the average in a typical winter is 23 1/2 inches.
The weather service's Galleo said there's a 50 percent chance of snow today and 90 percent tonight.
"It looks like it has good potential," Galleo said.