Comments on: Winter storm watch two counties north of Roanoke

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:24:03 +0000

Temp here went below 32 around 6:45 a.m. Still at 29, with light icing on trees, porch railing, etc.

By: kevinmyatt

kevinmyatt — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:38:57 +0000

I think this is about what was expected. We've probably about bottomed out in temperature.

By: Brandon R.

Brandon R. — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:46:10 +0000

I'm hovering at 33 degrees right now with light drizzle. Looks like some of this moisture is being forced southward; could that high pressure be a bit stronger than expected?

By: Brandon R.

Brandon R. — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:53:11 +0000

My temp has dropped 8 degrees in the past hour and a half.

I'm at 36. Same temp is being reported at VWCC.

By: Brandon R.

Brandon R. — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:06:23 +0000

It appears the wedge is starting to come in. Winds from the NE, dropping dew points, lowering temps, etc.

I'd say we get down to about 36 or so.

By: kevinmyatt

kevinmyatt — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:24:08 +0000

The '93 storm was March 13 ... but the biggest storm in '96 was Jan. 6-7. Large snows over history dot the calendar from November to March, even April in 1987. Our region's largest snowfall month, historically, is February. There are some late-season atmospheric dynamics that sometimes that can lend themselves to quick, large dumps of wet snow. (March '93 was really a different species altogether, a once-in-a-lifetime "superstorm" setup that pulled below-zero temperatures all the way to Alabama a week before spring)

By: Love NRV

Love NRV — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:32:51 +0000

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but don't some of the biggest snowstorms on record (at least for us)
tend to happen in late February and the first two weeks of March. I'm reminded of the '93 and '96
storms plus that crazy snowy winter in the late 1970's.

By: Brandon R.

Brandon R. — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:33:17 +0000

I don't think we'll be looking at an icing problem at all. NWS canceled the winter storm watch in favor of a freezing rain advisory just to our north at higher elevations in a few select counties. I suppose that's good news; we don't need ice.

There is some very interesting information in these comments.

By: Betsy

Betsy — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:05:05 +0000

Hey Fletcher...that's cool...thanks for pointing that out...I've been on that site a million times and never clicked on that link! Kevin-check it out.

By: Other John

Other John — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:54:53 +0000

I've been watching the ever-changing forecasts for the storm. Earlier, there was a good swath of the area covered by ice potential on the NWS maps. Now, it's just showing some splotchy areas of ice, mostly higher peaks it appears, with almost no widespread coverage. Also, the counties to the north now show some sleet mixing in with the rain, rather than freezing rain, so they have cut some areas out of the advisory/warning listings they issued earlier. And for Blacksburg, they had showed around 0.2 inches of ice from the storm...now calling for just rain with temps in the mid-30's, rather than the low 30's they indicated just this morning. Because of the total precip amounts, I hope it stays just a cold rain.