Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 4, 1994 TAG: 9401040228
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The National Weather Service on Monday issued a winter storm warning for western, northern and central Virginia through today. A warning is issued when there is a forecast of 4 inches of snow or significant ice accumulations within 12 hours.
But with temperatures hovering around the freezing mark and the exact track of the storm unknown, it was difficult to determine where the changeover from rain to snow overnight would be, and what the combination would be today, meteorologists said.
"We are waiting for the storm's onslaught," said Fred Altizer, administrator of the state Transportation Department district based in Salem. "Our snow plows are rigged, our chemical spreaders are loaded. Our crews are on standby throughout the night."
But Altizer said weather forecasting is more of an art than a science, and the big storm may end up being a lot of rain and nothing else. "I have seen where we call for a major storm and it just doesn't develop."
Freezing rain was enough to cause power outages at 9:40 Monday night. Victoria Ratcliff, spokeswoman for Appalachian Power, said 2,664 customers in the Raleigh Court and Grandin Court areas lost power for almost an hour. Another 250 customers lost power in the Plantation Road area.
Ratcliff said the power failures were caused by equipment malfunctions, probably caused by the weather.
Forecasters Monday projected snow for the mountains, with other regions to the north and west of Richmond expected to get a mix of snow and freezing rain and then cold rain and more snow today.
Late Monday, the National Weather Service predicted the storm would drop freezing rain and then snow west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and rain east of the mountains.
Schools in Craig County and Floyd County, where there was freezing rain Monday morning, closed for the day and several districts in the mountainous southwest delayed the start of classes. Patrick County announced Monday that schools would be closed today, and other local governments were monitoring the weather closely before deciding whether to open schools.
Representatives of local governments, state agencies and the National Weather Service talked about storm preparations and weather developments Monday night in a telephone conference call set up by the Department of Emergency Services.
Light snow fell on Pulaski and Bluefield around midday, but the brunt of the storm wasn't expected to hit Virginia until late and continue into today, when strong winds were anticipated.
"It will probably get pretty serious . . . with snow becoming heavy west of Roanoke and mixed precipitation east of Roanoke," said National Weather Service meteorologist Harry McIntosh. "It could wind up being pretty slippery."
Virginia's most severe snowstorms usually form when fronts near the Gulf of Mexico collide with cold air masses pushing in from Canada, and that was the scenario Monday, McIntosh said.
Snow accumulations of 4 inches to 8 inches were expected by early this morning in Southwest Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley and the west-central region that includes Charlottesville. Accumulations of 12 inches to 18 inches were forecast for the mountains before the storm ends today, with the highest amounts in Augusta, Bath, Alleghany and Highland counties bordering West Virginia.
The central and southern regions from Richmond over to the Blue Ridge foothills were expected to get a mix of freezing rain, snow and possibly sleet.
Richmond and areas to the south along Interstate 95 were expected to get snow or sleet and then rain, with little if any snow sticking to the ground.
by CNB