Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 29, 1995 TAG: 9501300067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The big winter storm expected to pummel Southwest Virginia with a mixture of precipitation Saturday fought a conservative fight in the early rounds, content to jab the area with ice, rain and snow.
But in the late afternoon, the storm delivered a roundhouse right that dumped more than 2 inches of snow in just a couple of hours.
It wasn't a big punch, but it was enough to send motorists reeling into ditches and put nearly everyone else on retreat.
Carlin Jacobs, a clerk at the 7-Eleven store at Guilford Avenue and Grandin Road Southwest, was swabbing the store's floor with a mop every 15 minutes, as customers streamed by him and tracked it up again right away. He said the store filled up almost as soon as the snow started to fall.
"They're coming in for milk, eggs, bread, just basic stuff," Jacobs said. "I guess they want their breakfast in the morning."
Meanwhile, plenty of car tires were spinning, but not getting very far. Police radios crackled continuously between 3 and 6 p.m. with reports of fender benders and cars in ditches from the New River Valley to Rockbridge County.
State police dispatcher Kenny Hogan said troopers responded to numerous wreck reports along Interstate 81 during the heaviest snowfall, but none with any serious injuries.
In the Roanoke area, several cars slid into gulleys along Garst Mill Road Southwest and Plantation Road Northeast, but again with no serious injuries.
The storm seemed to take motorists by surprise, but not the Virginia Department of Transportation. VDOT's drivers were waiting for it.
"We've been on pins and needles since noon Friday," spokeswoman Laura Bullock said. "We knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when."
Problem was, after the National Weather Service issued its winter weather advisory at 5:45 a.m. Saturday, things just changed.
"We never really got as warm as we expected," said Sam Simpson, a meteorologist at the weather service in Roanoke. Saturday's high came just after midnight, and the temperature dropped steadily all day.
Combine the cooler temperatures with the storm's decision to duck to the south when everyone thought it was going to bob to the north, and you've got a one-two punch that staggered the unsuspecting.
Simpson said as of 6 p.m., Roanoke had received 21/2 inches of snow - nearly all of it between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. Blacksburg had 3 inches, as did Botetourt.
But just a little ways to the south, Wythe County felt only a glancing blow - mostly rain and a half-inch dusting of snow.
by CNB