2010.12.26
UPDATE 5:30 AM: White Christmas 2010: The little snow that could
UPDATE 5:30 AM: Snow continues to slip away from our region this morning toward the coast. Later today, gusty northwest winds will begin — shaking the snow loose from its beautiful postcard setting on the trees, and perhaps damaging some of the trees themselves with gusts of 60 mph by tonight– and upslope snow squalls will begin to accumulate in West Virginia’s mountains and the ridges of far southwest Virginia, with some snow showers or flurries slipping farther east into the New River and Roanoke valleys at times. Winter storm warnings and high warnings have been issued to cover those situations.
I’ve also posted a fairly short list of snowfall reports issued by the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, through 3 a.m., in the extended entry below (click “Read More” in full blog mode). END UPDATE
It’s still snowing after midnight now on the 26th, after widespread 3-5 inch amounts and locally more from a very steady-as-she-goes Christmas snowfall following an anything-but-steady week on the forecast models following the “potential” storm. At this writing (12:40 a.m.) it is apparent on radar that the coastal low is starting to take over off the Georgia coast, with precipitation bands starting to move north and even a bit northwest through the Carolinas. The next thing to watch is how far west these bands move overnight and Sunday. The snow bands with the coastal are expected to stay east of most of our area, perhaps scraping the I-29 corridor (Danville-Lynchburg) but if they move farther west we could have another round of snow in the morning. This is NOT what is forecast but it does bear watching. In theory, now that the coastal low is taking over, the moisture field will dwindle and the snow will slowly taper off — it’s already starting to break into bands on local radar now, though they are moderate snow bands. So if this goes according to the program overnight, maybe another 1/2 to 1 inch of snow, and then just flurries until the upslope snow machine starts up in West Virginia with a few bleeding over into the New River and Roanoke valleys late Sunday into Monday. Winds will get very strong in our region when the coastal deepens off the coast of the Northeast — maybe 60 mph gusts.
But I am a bit concerned watching the snow bands build northward south of Greensboro right now. Does this system have one last surprise left in it for Southwest Virginia?
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
SPOTTER REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
301 AM EST SUN DEC 26 2010
THE FOLLOWING ARE UNOFFICIAL OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING THE PAST
3 HOURS FOR THE STORM THAT HAS BEEN AFFECTING OUR REGION.
APPRECIATION IS EXTENDED TO HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTS…COOPERATIVE
OBSERVERS…SKYWARN SPOTTERS…COCORAHS OBSERVERS AND MEDIA FOR
THESE REPORTS. THIS SUMMARY IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON OUR HOME PAGE AT
WEATHER.GOV/BLACKSBURG
********************STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL********************
LOCATION STORM TOTAL TIME/DATE COMMENTS
SNOWFALL OF
/INCHES/ MEASUREMENT
NORTH CAROLINA
…WILKES COUNTY…
5 ESE NORTH WILKESBO 7.5 1200 AM 12/26
HAYS 7.0 1210 AM 12/26
…YADKIN COUNTY…
HAMPTONVILLE 7.0 230 AM 12/26
VIRGINIA
…BEDFORD COUNTY…
3 WNW FOREST 2.5 1200 AM 12/26
…CITY OF LYNCHBURG…
1 W LYNCHBURG CITY 2.0 1200 AM 12/26 WSET TV
…CITY OF ROANOKE…
ROANOKE 3.0 1200 AM 12/26 WDBJ TV
…GILES COUNTY…
3 NW NEWPORT 3.5 1218 AM 12/26 MAYBROOK VA
…GRAYSON COUNTY…
3 SSW ELK CREEK 5.0 215 AM 12/26
…MONTGOMERY COUNTY…
BLACKSBURG 3.8 1200 AM 12/26 NWS RNK
…PATRICK COUNTY…
2 NE MEADOWS OF DAN 5.5 100 AM 12/26
4 ESE BUFFALO RIDGE 4.0 1210 AM 12/26 SPOTTER
…PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY…
DANVILLE AIRPORT 4.3 1200 AM 12/26
WEST VIRGINIA
…MERCER COUNTY…
BLUEFIELD 2.7 1200 AM 12/26
RSS feed 
Official snow: 3 inches at Roanoke, 3.8 at Blacksburg, as of midnight.
At my place in South Roanoke County it was 3.5 inches, with snow coming down steadily.
I’ll try to get some snow totals posted once I’m sure this storm is really over.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — December 26, 2010 @ 12:53 am
Kevin, thanks for taking time out on Christmas to keep us all informed. This has been an amazing white Christmas and I hope that you had an amazing one as well. I guess we will see how much more of this we are in store for…I am loving it! About 3.5 on the ground here in the Grandin area of Roanoke and still a steady snow.
Comment by Anthony O. — December 26, 2010 @ 1:05 am
I left Lynchburg yesterday around 3 and drove through snowfall all the way to south of Greensboro where it turned to rain. Turned back to snow around Charlotte and then rain again just south of Charlotte. I stopped for the night in Columbia SC and woke up this morning at 5 to look out my hotel room window and see what looks like 1-2″ on the ground. Would love to get on the road early but it appears, via Trafficland, that even the interstates around Columbia have seen some accumulation in places. I think I’ll craw back in bed and sleep in.
Everyone in VA, enjoy the snow! I sure hope it isn’t the last hurrah of the winter (sorry for those who don’t like it…I hope you can stay in by a warm fire today.) I’ll hopefully be in Florida by this afternoon.
Comment by TinaB — December 26, 2010 @ 5:36 am
Kevin, thank you so much for all of the work you’ve done over the past day or two, keeping us up-to-date on the developments of this snow– now get some sleep! There’s a certain little boy who is going to be very excited to play with all of the presents he got yesterday– and he’s going to want a certain dad to join him, I’ll bet!… yawn– I’m going back to bed, too, now that the snow plow has finished going up and down our street (Grandin area)– yay snow! (yawn)…
Comment by Blossom — December 26, 2010 @ 5:54 am
Official snow in New River, we ended with 4.3″ total. 1.8″ from the morning snow (with 20:1 ratios), then 2.5″ of snow from the afternoon to past midnight, at 10:1. Our storm total snow ratio was 13:1, roughly what the Blacksburg NWS office had.
I’ll check in with my dad to see what he’s getting down in Virginia Beach, but it looks like 8″ or more down that way.
Up this way, let the drifting begin. With winds to possibly 60 MPH, a lot of that new powder is going to get piled up in places. That might make commuting to work tomorrow a bit un-fun, since we always get bad drifts on the main way out of our community, and the back way is up and down several fairly steep hills that rarely get sunlight in winter.
Comment by Other John — December 26, 2010 @ 7:33 am
Kevin, I’m still in Concord, NC where it has already snowed 4 inches with light, large flakes still falling. My neighbor back in Christiansburg told me it has already been 5 inches with 6-10 more inches coming on the way. What is the storm’s indication at this point?
Comment by Trevor — December 26, 2010 @ 8:37 am
Washington County had approximately 2″ with the first round. We were too far west to get heavier amounts. Now the second round has begun for us. Predictions are for 4-8″ by Monday PM with 12″ or more over the higher mountains. Snowing heavily this morning and roads have ice under the snow. Travel is going to be rough in far southwest Virginia today and tomorrow. It is 23 degrees and colder air predicted.
Comment by Michael Hoback — December 26, 2010 @ 9:15 am
In SW Virginia we’re pretty well done with the main storm — got a little more in some places with the upper low this morning. The upslope snow is just beginning which will be biggest in West Virginia and west of I-77 in Virginia, especially west-facing slopes. Elsewhere, snow showers in hard winds. I wouldn’t expect Christiansburg to get more than an inch from this point forward.
The Tidewater area is getting hammered today. The storm is a bit east of some model projections — closer to the NAM than the GFS. DC area was downgraded from a winter storm warning to a winter weather advisory.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — December 26, 2010 @ 11:13 am
Here on the NC coast near Emerald Isle, we just got a dusting of snow this morning, the day after Christmas. I have talked to some relatives who live in Yadkin County, NC near Winston-Salem, they seemed to have gotten six to seven inches. It is weird that Southwest Virginia is getting a white Christmas while Fredericton, New Brunswick where we lived in Canada for years is having a “green” or “open” Christmas. http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/front/article/1364829 However, I think they might get all the snow they want in the next couple of days with the storm heading up the coast.
Comment by David Sobotta — December 26, 2010 @ 11:22 am
In Richmond today where we’ve got probably 6″ and its still snowing. Gonna wait on that Monday trip to New England. They’re supposed to get 12-18″ with blizzard warnings in some places!
Is it really going to be as warm in the NRV as it says towards the end of next week? I see 50s with rain on New Year’s Day. I don’t want to see the snow go so soon!
Comment by Tayree — December 26, 2010 @ 11:46 am
We are now getting gusts of high winds that are pulling the snow off of tress and filling in the plowed areas. Thanks to forecasted drifting, I’ll be busy with our new snow plow the next few days! A total of 5.25 inches from snowboard measurements, about 2 inches of it was from last night. Still snowing.
Comment by Indian Valley John — December 26, 2010 @ 12:12 pm
Kevin, I am a little dissapointed! My folks in Richmond have 4.5 inches so far ans still snowing like crazy, when I left last night the ground was covered yet when I got home to Northern Va we had nothing, I thought sure Id wake up to something! I get up this morning and nothing still nothing yet as I write this at 1pm. What happened to our snow!? I also see the NWS has taken down the advisory for me (20120)… err mother nature took my snow away!
Comment by jt — December 26, 2010 @ 12:58 pm
Here in the western raleigh area we got about 6 inches. Still some flurries flying around…crazy how 2 days ago the forecast called for a trace for our area, only to see the track of the storm slide west more and more.
Comment by Hokie John — December 26, 2010 @ 1:02 pm
Inland Northern Virginia is missing out because the low is going too far east — looks like the edge of the snow band barely making it into DC proper.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — December 26, 2010 @ 1:03 pm
I measured just under 3″ of snow here in Bedford.
Comment by Donnie — December 26, 2010 @ 1:06 pm
Meanwhile, in New England:
“At its height, the storm is expected to dump between two to four inches of snow an hour…”
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/12/blizzard_warnin.html
Comment by Jordan — December 26, 2010 @ 1:59 pm
just started snowing here so well see! How much do u think we will pick up?
Comment by jt — December 26, 2010 @ 2:40 pm
It’s been snowing steadily all afternoon in Washington County (Mendota). While we’ve had ALOT of snow activity since it started on Christmas morning, we only have about four inches of snow on the ground. We feel very lucky to have not (at least not yet) lost power. Loving this snow!
Comment by Eva Beaule — December 26, 2010 @ 4:30 pm
You know, when I said that I really hoped we stayed on the western edge of this dangerous storm…I didn’t know there was going to be THUNDERSNOW…one of my all time favorite weather conditions!
I have been following the storm on Henry Margusity’s Fan Club page on Facebook (as opposed to Henry’s Accuweather Facebook page) where he has 300 followers, a lot of whom are in the path of the storm and reporting conditions and there are beginning to be reports of thundersnows in New Jersey…what a REMARKABLE, HISTORIC storm…Kevin I hope that when this is all over, you will give us some hindsight insights to this …
Comment by Betsy — December 26, 2010 @ 4:37 pm
Well, my situation today was MUCH better than I expected. Still only 3 inches tops on my driveway, and the temp climbed all the way to 36 by noon. So I got out and shoveled the driveway, and the streets in SW Roanoke County, even the very back roads, are in fabulous shape considering. Great work, snow plow workers!!! Sam Oakey, the following is for you and other snow haters like us, and pertains only to today’s no-snow event in Roanoke (after all, there was a slight chance just 3 or 4 days ago that we were going to get bombed with a big snow): “There’s another one gone, and another one gone …. ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!” And we should be safe from any more snow here in Roanoke (not counting minor flurries or windblown snow) for at least ten days. Somehow I escaped this brutally cold month with no 5+ inch snowfalls here.
Comment by Doug Griggs — December 26, 2010 @ 5:06 pm
We’ve gotten another half inch of snow this afternoon, though with the crazy winds it’s a bit hard to say exactly what’s new and what’s been blowing and drifting. By morning our main road ought to be pretty nasty, there were already some near foot-deep drifts across it a little bit ago and the winds are completely wound up yet.
So closing in on 5 inches in New River from all 3 phases of the storm: the initial push from the northern stream system, the backside of the precipitation shield from the coastal low, and the bleedover upslope snows on the backside.
And unfortunately, I’ve been reading that while we may experience a good warm-up for this week, the weather models are increasingly saying the warm-up will be cut short and it will get right back to cold by mid-January or earlier.
Oh and by the way, I checked some climatology data, and Blacksburg has been snowier so far than Detroit or Pittsburgh, and just about as cold (appears to be within 1 degree), for the month of December.
Comment by Other John — December 26, 2010 @ 5:33 pm
Arrive home in Woodlawn today to 6-8″ of snow (maybe 9″ in spots) From Roanoke to Fort Chiswell around 3-4″. When you get up the mountain into Carroll County though, you can really tell a difference in the ammounts, Roads are pretty bad up here, as well as the winds. There are drifts 1-2′ deep as well. Pretty Nasty.
Comment by zach — December 26, 2010 @ 7:49 pm
Good to hear from another Washington Co blogger on the county’s western end. My community,Blackwell Chapel, is on the eastern end near the Smyth Co line and Saltville. As expected, our storm did not arrive in full force until today. I estimate 6″ here and still falling heavily. Winds are picking up but thankfully they are not predicted as bad as you guys in Roanoke will see. My brother in Vinton will keep me posted. Since Dec. 4th I have measured 20″ of snow here and that counts yesterday and today and still accumulating.
Comment by Michael Hoback — December 26, 2010 @ 9:24 pm