Snow creating confusing pattern of haves and have-nots
It’s been a confusing storm from the start — and that’s how it’s ending up. The way snow bands and dry slots and temperature profiles have set up today has produced a confusing mosaic of places getting considerable snow (between 1 and 2 inches in my part of southern Roanoke County, for instance) and places that are not. Some parts of the Roanoke Valley are seeing heavier snow today than many parts of the New River Valley. The storm is continuing to pivot just south of our region, creating new precipitation bands and pulling them northwestward, in addition to a back shield of snow slowly developing eastward. It’s very hard at this point to throw out accumulation projections since the current snow on the ground is a patchwork almost beyond description, but most places in Southwest Virginia will probably see accumulating snow this afternoon and evening in the 1-3 inch range, locally more. I’ll continue to monitor radar trends in case there are more surprises.
January 26, 2011 - 2:13 PM
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I am admiting defeat. Snow lovers lost…..BIG. Nothing in West Salem. Nothing
Northern Blacksburg is among the have NOTs! Radar return is indicating snow, but the reality on the ground is a great big goose egg– nothing but a few flurries. Just a slight dusting on the ground.
Christiansburg is a HAVE-NOT ! No snow here.
Looks like weatherchannel.com was right all along.
The NE has already exceeded their annual avg.
Seems like a strange Winter. Maybe February will be
more generous. :>)
Do we call this a Bust yet? By that I mean everything was in place a few days ago for a 6-8+ event now this.
Disappointment reigns. Pulaski is a big have-not. We’ve got some snow, now and then, but it’s melting as fast as it hits the ground. PWS says 35 degrees.
I must be in some kind of SNOW GLOBE VACUUM in Fincastle…snowing VERY hard, blowing winds and temperature IS dropping here. Went from 34.9 down to 32.8-degrees in about 15 minutes. If these keeps up this long here, we’ll get WAY more than 1-3 paltry inches. We almost have that now. I realize many are getting the shaft, that’s usually the case where I live!
Huge snowflakes, the size of your face, falling in Christiansburg near I-81….it’s now starting to stick to the road a bit and the grass is turning white. Whether we have 8″ or not….it sure is beautiful falling out my front window!
Keith: If I follow the “snow at my house” rule all I need is a couple more decent snow bands for another inch and a half to get to 3 inches and I would verify.
I think it will be widely viewed as a bust because most places don’t seem to be getting much snow. I don’t think whatever gets squeezed out this afternoon and evening will placate a lot of snow fans.
This is a prime example of the meteorology being right — the basic handling of the weather systems — but the weather forecast being wrong — the results on a local level in many places.
I think I’m ready for spring.
Complete and utter bust folks; that’s all there is to it. Yesterday if you would have told me we would only get 3 inches I would have been been disappointed, yet here I am now just hoping to see the grass get remotely covered. What a disastrous winter this has been for snow lovers.
Nothing here in the Glenvar/Roanoke County area. In fact, the little dusting of snow that had accumulated in my mulch-beds has now been washed away by rain.
2″ and snowing heavily, just south of Lexington near I 81
Snowing hard in Daleville still….roads are wet/slushy..not bad. Selling house, moving to Wyoming.
3″ and snowing heavily in Waynesboro, expecting 9″ before it is done this evening. Time to get out the snowblower.
Steady snow continues a couple miles north of Floyd. The grass is starting to really get covered.
My wife just told me we have 4.0″ on our deck in Wytheville…and still snowing moderately. There’s only about an inch here on the ground where I work in southern Wythe County.
Big bust. And at 2:35, both Roanoke and Blacksburg getting warmer, according to NWS, with Roanoke cooler by two degrees.
It’s very interesting today that I’ve been getting reports from the same town that seem to be 180 degrees apart. Seems even parts of communities are seeing different results.
I’m driving downtown soon so I’ll leave snowy south Roanoke County for rainy/slushy downtown Roanoke city. Will be interested to see the pattern of accumulation (or lack thereof) as I drive through.
bust bust bust again. So disappointed I cant stand it. Here in troutville off country club rd we have a coating at best. Not een an inch. What has happened. Any chance of us getting a few more inches this afternoon?
I’m the Donovan McNabb of snow lovers. Championship Glory from days of old but not even a playoff contender anymore.
Final score: Snow Haters 4 Snow Lovers 0
Snow Lover Command Post is hereby decommissioned.
Looking at NRV area webcams around the Burgs and Radford, not much of anything has accumulated. My wife sent a pic a little bit ago and there’s just trace amounts at the house, same as Blacksburg, Fairlawn, and many other places. I’m now wondering if any measurable snow exists when this is done the way this is going. We’re on the have not side of it all
Re-posting from previous thread, can’t keep up with the new threads starting!
Temp here at 2800 feet has been holding at 36-37 degrees all day, odd since I was counting on temps going down once precipitation started. Yet at similar elevations elsewhere in Floyd County folks have been getting colder temps. Been snowing steady for a while now but too warm to build up much accumulation beyond a slushy 1/2 inch. If it were colder, would guestimate about 3-4 inches accumulation from all the hail-sleet/snowfall here today. Very weird storm!
The Capt. and I are but a few miles apart and had a great disparity in weather. The deciding factor likely to be elevation.
BUST!!! Absolutely nothing in Salem. If you want snow perhaps Atlanta or the Outer Banks would be the place to live, at least this winter.
John L.
Captain Quagmire…I’m an Eagles fan, and Donovan McNabb never really had his “championship glory”! LOL But I’ll agree that the snow haters are prevailing today…
Crazy…across the street they’re shoveling the snow off their driveways but mine’s melted. Cave Spring Corner area. Since my husband’s gotta travel over Fancy Gap within the next hour, I’ve postponed snow dancing for now. Got some big, fat flakes falling right now.
Snowing moderately out my window again. If that’s all I had to go by I would presume this was an areawide 1-3 inch snow already with more coming.
Can’t figure out why I’ve stayed snow so long while others have had rain not far away.
I am a snow lover but I don’t have to have a 6 inch snow. That snow burst we had earlier was one of the most beautiful snowfalls I have ever seen. It is rare to have flakes that big!!! Besides, I think we are fortunate to have had much chance for snow at all considering the predictions of a warmer and drier La Nina winter.
Here in the northeast corner of Henry County the snow has been falling hard for about 45 mins…looks to be somewhere between 1 to 2 inches and the road is covered.
The Nick from the Elett Valley has finally returned (just clarifying since I see there has recently been another Nick on here too). I finally have come back to commenting on here after a crazy few weeks.
First off, here in the Elett Valley, there is a trace of snow, and that is it. This is OUTRAGEOUS! I know we’re saying this is confusing and blah, blah, blah, but whatever happened to widespread 2-4 or even 1-3! I’m very disappointed/surprised and obviously frustrated that this hasn’t come to fruition. However, I’m glad to see some of the other snow lovers like Scott and Betsy getting some action. Maybe it will come later tonight or something but right now the trace has melted and we’re getting drizzle even though the radar is showing snow over us! Maybe the elevation is not allowing the snow to fall. But I just hope that there’s a storm after this soon that is clear to forecast like last winter’s ones, it doesn’t get ridiculously warm (and if it does, I hope it resets the pattern), and that we can get some good storms in Feb. and Mar. Is there any hope Kevin because I’m seeing a warm spike next week (upper 40s)? I’m not ready for winter to close. I can definitely understand what you have been through though. The forecasting for this system and getting it right is about as much probability of finding a needle in a haystack. But thanks Kevin for forecasting it correctly for what it seems like for most of us even though I got jipped. But hey, that’s the weather business.
So far, the snow is a big bust in Hillsville. We have no real accumulation to speak of.
Barely drizzling in downtown Roanoke. There has been no accumulation at all. My hopes for leaving from work early have diminished greatly. So disappointing.
Don’t believe we will even see an inch in sw roanoke, still mostly rain with some snow mixed in, just a minor slush accum on the grass, earlier was looking good not so good now.
Just talked to Kool Egdar Ice in Glenvar who runs weather forecasting equipment from his basement. He thinks that given the swirling pattern of this system vs. the broad sweep, that we could be dumped on pretty heavily in the next two hours. Look for around 4 inches when it is all finished later tonight. Get to the new Clearbrook Walmart as soon as possible to get your bread and milk but make sure you have a full tank of gas because you may be sitting in traffic there for a couple of hours. Hopefully they will put in a couple of round-about traffic circles there in the next few months.
Check out http://www.trafficland.com and look at the various cameras on the interstate to see what a difference a few miles can make. Look now @ the camera at mile marker 180!
Robbie
Snowing pretty heavy here in Iron Gate and about an inch on the cars and grassy areas. We had heavy icy rain for about 1/2 hr. before it turned over to all snow but it’s really wet and seems to be mush on the road. If the temperature drops, it will be very slippery tonight.
Looks like my shiny shovel and salt are going back to the shed. Time to pull out the garden tools. The disappointment is palpable.
It’s 34 here on the Franklin Co side of Windy Gap. One minute it is snowing, then the next it’s raining. Hardly a dusting on our porch, and the very little on the grass. The temperature has dropped 2 degrees in the last 4 hours.
When I left Roanoke several hours ago it went from a dusting just outside the city to practically all white at the top of Windy Gap, to nothing on the ground in Boones Mill. Weird stuff.
Is it safe to say this type of storm is atypical for us? I can’t remember the last time we had one switch back and forth quite like this one, and everyone got such vastly different totals/type of precipitation. If it hadn’t been for the temperature, I’d have thought we were in for a thunderstorm this morning. Creepy looking sky.
Been snowing in the Raleigh Court area since about 11 this morning. HUGE snowflakes again right now @3:05.
Strange how disappointed one can feel where snow is concerned. I really thought this one would give us a decent amount of snow. Oh well. Maybe later this evening……
~sigh~
BTW…I’m in Dublin,Va. And looking out the window constantly!
nothing but “white rain” basically in blue ridge.
work is rt 11 near pepsi plant (botetourt co). . . ground isn’t even covered here and looks like it might have switched back to rain. Home is fincastle, so waiting to see how much I have there since previous poster said we got some. Keeping fingers crossed.
I guess I’m in the snow lovers group, but experienced many, many disapointments this year. If we’re not gonna get anything to play in, might as well bring on spring. So SICK of this winters frequent let downs!!!!
Finally got the big flakes coming down north of Charlottesville. Had been rain/sleet mix up to now.
Cameras showing Lexington/Staunton area are getting hit pretty hard the past hour or so.
Bust here in Washington County (near Scott County line/up from Carter’s Fold). This snow has been a tease.
I agree Kevin – ready for Spring… think we’ll have an early or late spring this year?
Finally home in Salem and there’s almost no accumulation whatsoever here, even on cars. Pretty steady rain with some snowflakes mixed in. Bummed. This TWLS is getting gypped this winter.
Kevin I agree lets get to spring….
I’m starting to believe in Sam Oakey’s magical powers…
Heavy snow again in sw roanoke, ground is white again
Almost all of what little snowfall has melted in bburg. It’s drizzling outside. Has a small dry slot ever stood over a place like this for an entire day? Good grief. I would put money on it that we don’t see much snow from here on out after looking at the radar. I’ve never quite seen a bust like this! I’m out for the day. Til next time!
It keeps throwing down a combo of sleet/snow, starting and stopping here off Truman Hill Rd, Hardy, Franklin Co.
The squirrel is back, getting leftovers from the bird feeder that fell on the ground.
My SIL is traveling on 81 right now from Lexington to Moneta (not his first choice but was half way home/turned around due to accident), and going about 5 MPH. Hope it is because everyone is being careful and not that something else has happened.
It’s like waiting for the Great Pumpkin.
Rain, sleet, snow, repeat cycle. Currently rain here in SE Blacksburg. Had to cancel an appointment but can’t even enjoy the outside. What a big tease.
I nominate for this storm:
The Great Teaser of ’11
I have decided to declare it a bust in my part of Washington Co. Office closed at noon, came home in a blizzard type snow. Roads were either covered or slushly. 1-2′ inches on the ground with higher amounts on the ridge areas between here and Abingdon. Snow tapered off, melted some. Now snowing harder, temperatures finally at 32 but radar does not show too much promise. At least the ground is white and schools will probably be closed tomorrow from late evening snow and refreezing. We may not get a deep one this winter.
ok, Im feeling a bit better. Im in troutville near botetorut country club. I am in the middle of a virtual whiteout. Been snowing very hard for 15-20 minutes and accumualting rapidly. Must be in one of the heavy bands. Hope it keeps up
big snow flakes coming down now in Hollins in NW Roanoke County, don’t give up snow lovers, this storm is still pivoting and becoming stronger, plus we still have a good month and half of winter left then its severe thunderstorm season on the blog
Big flakes all afternoon long here approaching 2 inches on our back deck. Yard and woods are white, still 33 degrees. Our elevation makes a difference in storms like this, we are at 1500 and the valley below about 1000 ft. Looks like “Dr Zivago” out our upstairs windows. City plows have been through and Peakwood seems OK, slush covered. Not quite ready for spring yet, hope for a few more snows! At least we can say that ATL, RDU and CLT didn’t steal our snow this time. It is OK if the coast gets a bone thrown to them once in a while, Wilmington is Partly Sunny 56 at 3P.
THANKS TO ALL FOR THE GREAT COMMENTS!!! Makes the winter fun with all the friends… Steve in South Roanoke
Very light snow mixed with rain I’m on Shenandoah ave
was snowing heavy and was starting to get white out there and now its raining again in sw roanoke, wow this is a bust for sure looking at the radar not looking very promising from here on out
I just love these “south roanoke” people!
I’m disappointed at the performance of this storm myself. Snowing light to moderate here near SML. About a quarter to half inch on the deck. Look on the bright side, it seems like we’ve been in a neverending drought the last few years so no matter what falls from the sky, every bit has to help, no matter what form it takes.
Another snow band coming thru Eastern Roanoke County, near William Byrd. Its a beautiful thing.
In a 30 mile stretch of 58 in Henry Co it went from nothing, to totally white ground and road, back to nothing. Really weird!
2-3 inches here in Troutville off Rt 11. Steady heavy flakes for about the last 45 mins. Funny to hear that just a few miles down the road is seeing nothing.
Definately NOT gonna say anything to jinx the luck (so far) of the small-but-powerful snow haters group. Also not going to boast or taunt, although if we had gotten 13″ I’m sure Doug and I would be on the receiving end of some verbal snowballs! I just got home (Windsor Hills area of SW Roanoke City) and it looks like more sleet than snow here. Still raining with a temp of 36 degrees. Several slick spots between downtown and here; not ice, but packed slush. Cold overnight temps could make tomorrow morning rough.
Back to 32.0 and light rain at Penn Forest after bottoming at 31.3. Lots of diffierent kinds of flakes came down, which was interesting, but it’s basically an inch of white slush all told.
I’m starting to think cold and snow are like hot and chocolate. They just go better together. If you don’t have one, don’t bother with the other.
Snowing steadily in Bonsack area of Roanoke Co. Nothing on roads, but grass is almost covered. Very pretty! Hope there is at least an inch or two more to come! Thanks for all the updates Kevin!
I wonder where Doug is?? Strange that he’s not commenting like crazy right about now.
33 degrees at Bonsack at 1250 feet. Ground still very visible here. I can see above on Read Mt that it is frosted white on the trees at about 1500 feet and above.
Just made the change over here in Greene county! Looks like a lot more moisture to move through so maybe this will be a sizeable snow! Might be our only chance, I have heard next weeks snow isnt going to materialize.
Salem is a big nothing thus far. Temperatures have climbed the last couple hours to 36 from 34. I think Robin Reed and the WDBJ7 Mosel win this round. That is unless we see a lot more once it gets dark.
What is the possibility of ice formation now. Could it get cold enough at bottom to freeze?
It’s not doing anything in Blacksburg on the VT campus. Just wet looking. Guess my evening student meetings will go on as planned. 90% of my office left by noon because of the impending snow. What happened to the days when we would come to work or stay at work for a ‘regular’ 6 inch snow.
Okay snow haters, I give. I put away the hot chocolate and quit waxing the rudders on my sled. Instead I’m dreaming of a sunny, warm beach way down south, until….perhaps Tuesday???
Temperature has ticked up to almost 37 degrees in Salem. The radar show that this system has almost left the area and the bands seen to breaking up as the swirl towards us. I see this is an overall total bust. I see this whole winter as a bust. Acts like 1996 and last winter are tough ones to follow. The warm air was just to strong to be cooled sufficiently this time. I was really hoping for the deceptive bigun that surprises everyone. I want to see an honest to goodness 3 footer once. I have never seen one here in my 40 years.
I just measured 3 3/4″ on the deck, it is snowing steadily, and the temperature is rising- it has not been below 33 all day. I’m near mm 180 on I 81, just south of Lexington.
HokieTrax – liability and lawsuits most likely have something to do with hair-trigger cancellations and postponements.
So when is the next potential for snow? Or should I say next bust?
Left Daleville at 3:30 and it was snowing HARD..2-3 inches on the grass and an inch of slush in the parking lot. Drove to Salem, nothing but rain. Back home in North Rke County now and nothing but rain. BUST.
Ok Kevin, is it time to move to our next hope?
35.1 degrees and rising about 0.6 degrees per hour with a light rain here in SW City/Raleigh Court area.
The snow stopped up here in Lexington for a bit around 1400 but it has picked up something fierce (heavy, clumpy) in the last hour. I would say I have about 2-3 inches (eyeballing on my deck) here north of Lexington in the county. Property manager just came through to plow the snow in the parking lot and, less than 5 mins later, it is coated again.
The roads seem slick, but the bigger problem with the heavy downpour of snow is the visibility while driving. Be safe!
Also as a side note…there are thousands of robins flying in the Bonsack area over the last few days…I have never seen so many birds here like this – kinda creepy. Seems like their seasonal clock is off a bit if they are moving north!!
Guess this is it, we have nothing and the storm is pulling away, radar shows everything is falling apart. I Was hoping for atleast an inch or two here in roanoke not looking likely now.
As a relative newcomer to the area, I have to ask if this has been an unlucky winter for snow lovers or is this pretty typical for Roanoke? I’m guessing this has been a worse than average winter for Noke, as we’ve had several systems that looked promising only to completely bust at the last moment. I don’t know if I can take many more of this nonsense; from now on, even if we’re forecasted to get 2 feet of snow, I won’t get excited until there are at least a few inches on the ground.
What happened to Doug? Hope he is OK.
DC: This does seem to be pretty typical except for last winter, when there were big storms easily discernible days in advance that moved right through and dumped big snows.
David in Salem: It’s time to move on. Maybe to spring.
DC, pretty odd storm for us but we typically don’t see a lot of big snows. Seems it is always 2 to 4 inches at a time and more than our share of sleet/freezing rain.
4;20 PM in Blacksburg and the sun just made a brief appearance. Putting my brand new snow shovel back in the garage….
Here Northof Montvale the ground is covered, sidewalk and driveway are covered. My wife drove in from Salem about half hour ago, and said 460 between Bonsack and Montvale was pretty much clear. Local roads from Montvale up to the house were slushy and starting to build up.
The temp has been holding at 33.5 for the last couple of hours. All the trees and bushes have an accumulation on them now, so I am guessing that the temperature some higher in the air may well be at or below freezing.
Right now – 4:23PM – is about the lightest snow fall we have had since 10:00 this morning – it is light but steady. Except for an occasional 15 min or so lull like this, it has been mostly heavy with visibility only about 400 to 500 yards.
So here in Montvale, we have had the snow – it has just melted as fast as it fell until the last couple of hours. If it had bee below freezing, we would easily have 4 to 6 inches on the ground.
But from the reports, it shure is a wild mosaic over the whole area.
DC–I’ve lived here for 12 years (moved from Maine) and really last winter was the first “real” winter we’ve had in terms of snow fall. I can count on one hand (before last winter) the number of times we got more than six inches in any one storm. Truly it is that rare. I think Roanoke averages around 20″ a year (I think slightly less), so this is pretty typical really. We’ll probably get a few more 2-4″ storms (that could have been 10″) and end up with 16″ for the winter–about average.
Kevin: I echo your sping thoughts! How about the chances of 55 degress this weekend? 60 degrees? Honestly, that’s why I moved here from Maine–a few 55 or 60 degree day in January (unheard of in Maine) are just amazing!
I feel for you snow lovers out there, everyone seems disapointed. But lets face it, the run up was still facinating. The result is experiance, and the uncertanty is part of the spice of life. On the other hand, an evening I would have spent listening snow blades grinding on asphalt, and hours of shoveling will be spent sipping tomato soup and eating grill cheese. The constellation prize ain’t so bad.
4 inches 2 miles south of Lexington at about 1200′. Still snowing hard, but it looks like the back edge is approaching soon. So it looks like we’ll end up with the low-end of forecasted snow totals.
I am just East of apple orchard mountain, looks to be around 5 inches on the ground. Here comes a heavy blast, oops…those are 17 year locusts. Sorry.
Nothing in N.W Roanoke City @ 4;40
I’ll second the ready for spring sentiments. Bring on 70′s, thunderstorms, and rain showers. This cold and dry mess with snowstorms that fizzle, jump, skip, or slip by us is as annoying now as it was the first 9 years I lived here…my heating bill and yard would both appreciate warmer temperatures and more rain.
Guess we have to dream of spring,,,only about an inch in Narz today,,,had some really big flakes, but it has pretty much melted and it looks as if old man winter is throwing in the towel here for a big snow today,,guess there is always hope for the big one in February or March.
It’s the bottom of the 9th, Snow Haters trail, 3-0, bases loaded, two out. The count is 0-2 on the Crazy Old Letter Carrier, Doug Griggs. Here’s the pitch, … (CRACK!!!!) …. OHMIGOSH!! A long drive to deep center field!!! WAY BACK!!! Brandon, Captain Glen Quagmire, Dave Tolleris, Kevin Myatt, and all the Teachers Who Love Snow form a human pyramid on the warning track, reach up, BUT IT’S GONE!!!! A grand slam!! The Snow Haters bench and the runners on base … Sam Oakey, Fletch, Howard of Lexington — plus the rest of the Snow Haters team mob Doug as he touches home plate!!! WHAT A COMEBACK!!! Once again the Snow Haters and the weather have caused massive heartbreak among all the SW Virginia Snow Lovers.
And as the Snow Haters carry Doug off the field, the organist strikes up the official Snow Hater theme song, that’s right, from Queen (STOP READING, SNOW LOVERS, IF YOU CANNOT BEAR IT!!) “AND ANOTHER ONE GONE, AND ANOTHER ONE GONE …. AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!!!”
Oh, DC, one more thing: an interesting article about winters and snowfall in the Roanoke area. You might recognize the guy who wrote the article:
http://www.roanoke.com/weather/wb/59142
Wonder what people are observing in the northern va/ DC area? Seems like it’s going to hit there right at rush hour.
We have 4 inches of snow in Staunton, still coming down hard.
NEWS FLASH NEWS FLASH
THE BLIZZARD IS OVER. EVERYBODY RELAX LOL (<:)
Bah humbug. I’m not sure I can stand many more of these busts. The clouds have lifted and the mountains all around our house in Narrows are covered with snow, but we’ve just got a wet dusting. Saw a few snowflakes coming down just now and the wind is starting to pick up.
Heavy snow in DC. 34 degrees with thunder snow and lightening snowing at the rate of 1.5-2″ per hour now. Almost a revisit of snowmageddon from last year, too bad it’s such a quick hitter.
Why am I getting texts from WSLS restating a Winter Storm Warning for Roanoke City thru midnight? Is this a new one, or just the same one that was issued far earlier?
I think Doug mentioned earlier this week that he had Thursday off, so I believe he has been at work today. I bet it hasn’t been an easy day on him at all. Very slick, esp if he has done one of his walking routes.
I agree, tomorrow morning isn’t going to be pretty at all for any of us.
My SIL just got home…took him a long time to get from Lexington to Moneta.
Hope all of you make it home safe too.
…and thanks Sam for keeping down your jubilation, in the midst of all of the let down for the snow lovers! I will try to do the same in return.
Seriously– this is it?? I didn’t just want a day (afternoon) off, I wanted hours and hours of snow falling, and guessing how much, and for how long, and enjoying the quiet beauty of it all. Not a little slush on the front steps, and nothing but a gray sky. Is more maybe on the way overnight? Or what about next week– I’ve heard rumor of another storm next week– is that worth looking into?
…the Weather Channel is also giving out a watch that they hadn’t been mentioning lately, skibum. It goes to midnight and includes a few more inches of snow for RockyMount/Bedford area by their forecast on the 8s.
Now for some true analysis. Sometimes the key factor with previous possible snow events has been whether the precipitation holds together and tracks our way, when there has been truly cold conditions and even when there has been existing snow cover. And sometimes the precip never makes it here. Other times there is very dry air here in Roanoke/ Southwest Virginia, and the clouds roll in, start dropping snow, but it becomes virga (never reaches the ground, because it evaporates as it falls), thus reducing snowfall totals because some of the storm’s energy is used in simply moistening the air until the snow can reach the ground. Neither of those were issues with this baby. This storm was all about temperature, temperature, temperature. Kevin and a few of you other predictors were counting on the strong storm to pull down enough cold air to allow the changeover to snow, but it did not happen.
This is just sad sad I say… I don’t now what I hate more missing out, or knowing the locals had it right the whole time. DC I have been here for 31 years (AKA born and raised) people like me hold on to our memories of the late 80′s and 90′s and try to forget the lost (snow) decade of ’00. During the 90′s every year we had at least one good snow and many times more then one. Then you had ’93 and ’96 right near each other makes it hard not to wish for days like again.
I should have typed “changeover to accumulating snow … ” in my previous comment. Bottom line: if temperatures had been 32 or below last night, we would be buried in snow. Luckily I had a riding route today, and the sleet came down so fast and hard about 9:40 and off and on between then and roughly 11 AM that if that had been all snow, and particularly if the temp had been 25, we probably would have gotten 2+ inches JUST IN THAT SHORT PERIOD. Sorry, TWLS.
Thanks everyone for your replies. So, I guess what you’re telling me is, if I’m looking for big snow or simply consistent snow during the winter…buy a place at Snowshoe.
I’m on it…
Doug the Crazy Old Letter Carrier! You are hilarious! It’s true that the Snow Haters have prevailed! However, we who love snow will live to see another day. We have some of our best snow months in February!
School started at the regular time today in Smyth County. It started snowing at 10:00 this morning and they closed the schools at 11:00. School buses slid off the road into ditches. The sheriff’s department and town police departments spent the early afternoon taking kids home from the stuck buses. I suspect schools will be called more quickly in the future. They have been getting a lot of negative feedback recently for calling school for bad weather forecasted that didn’t happen.
The snow has stopped for now here and some parts of the county has 6-8″ of heavy snow.
Just a dusting and windy here in Woodlawn, Va. at the moment…A bust per snow, and doesn’t look like any more tonight to count.
Year end and out for the past 20# years storms have been forecast and missed the area. sachhols even closed a few years for the horrible onco,ming storm to see nothing fall from the sky. Sometimes folks nail it on the had (last December for one), sometimes they miss (calling for dusting an get 8″) weather is not an exact science.
Here in Covington…nothing! It was snowing earlier and looked promising BUT turned to rain and now doing nothing! I am disappointed, was looking forward to it. I drove to Roanoke this am nothing til I hit Roanoke and then it was pouring rain!! On my way home it started sleeting and then snowing! (hope) Got to Fincastle, snow was coming down like crazy!! (more hope) As I got home…snow but not much and barely sticking!
Maybe we will get SOME snow this winter! 
Wind has very suddenly picked up here in Blacksburg.
To David in Salem: yes the liability thing has really changed the way we do things.
We’re getting a quick burst of snow in New River, too little too late. The entire trek from the Burgs to Radford showed just a trace of snow around Blacksburg and Christiansburg, a dusting on 114 near Vicker, and a slight dusting in Fairlawn. Of the snow that fell earlier at my house, all that remains is a slushy 0.1″, and really that is about all that accumulated anyway. We might get a ground-whitening dusting from this last hurrah flurry of snow, but even it is beginning to fizzle out and fade off into oblivion, much like the rest of this storm for the northern NRV. Looks like a massive snow hole developed east of I-77 and carried through Montgomery County, because Pulaski County got missed almost entirely in terms of accumulations. And here I thought the NWS snow map, NAM snow map, and GFS snow map each showing almost nothing for my house were all wrong. Turned out they were right…
I’ll measure the total liquid equivalent shortly, I’m willing to bet it’s well below predicted QPF amounts too.
I actually see blue sky in Boones Mill! It snowed maybe a total of 30 min here all day and amounted to nothing. Bust. I’m officially ready for spring!
I am in Glen Allen right now (From Roanoke) and it is snowing very hard. It just started about an hour ago. Fortunately I will be here through tomorrow afternoon before heading back.
Is this supposed to continue throughout the night?
Rain and big flakes in Callaway, but we did need the rain. The mountains from Cahas to further down the Parkway are lovely.
Thanks for the compliment, Eva. Yes, we could still get lots of snow in February … and even March. All it takes is one 4- or 5-incher, and then the odds might change drastically for later events becoming snow. Kevin has on several occasions done a wonderful job detailing how the winter of 1960 (Roanoke’s snowiest ever, right, Kevin?) had hardly any snow until the calendar turned to February, and then it was snow, snow, snow. Something like 60+ inches, nearly all of it after Feb. 1. I hope and doubt that something anything at all like that happens this year (from my point-of-view, we are way overdue for a warming trend, and I would say we would be way overdue for a cold snap if we were having a warm winter), but you never know. If that $!#%%f2 NAO AND/OR AO become significantly negative again, we could get hit hard.
The predictions were true for Martinsville – I have over 2″ on my deck. It snowed really hard for about an hour this afternoon. Just a few miles away, there’s barely a dusting in Collinsville. Crazy storm! This one may have been a bust in many places, but think of all the past winters when we’ve gone week to week without a hope for snow. The anticipation of storms has made this a pretty exciting winter. I’ll be ready for spring in March, but maybe the snow lovers will get lucky in February… Kevin, thanks all of the efforts you put into keeping us all up-to-date. You must be exausted after this one!
I thought so before this storm and now I know for sure, Roanoke is in the no snow zone this winter. Last winter Roanoke could not miss the snow this winter it can’t hit, this reminds me of many winters past before last winters freakish weather. Still fun to watch and speculate though and the next time I see snow in the forecast for Roanoke I will go ahead and put the brown back over my head and hope that will be the one.
Four weeks of prime winter left so I had better stock up on bags. HA-Ha.
Any chance we may get more snow between now and in the morning… for the roanoke county area?
Doug: I partly disagree with your analysis of why there wasn’t accumulating snow (in most places) today. I agree it was related to temperatures, but there was nothing at all wrong with the dynamic cooling — it was changing things over at midmorning. It easily overcame the lingering warmth from Tuesday. I think it was the banded nature of the precipitation and the dry slots that allowed more surface warming to occur between the snow bands. Touch on this in my new blog post.
And I guess this is as good a time as any to dish out a big complaint …. no, not at the model huggers, although I may comment on you folks later, but on the National Weather Service. I started printing out their detailed forecasts for Roanoke every 6 hours starting Monday afternoon, through this morning. EVERY SINGLE ONE had the same detailed forecast for Tuesday night, Wednesday during the day, and tonight. Tues. night: little or no accumulation. Wednesday: Rain, snow and sleet …. stuff, stuff, bottom line “New snow and sleet accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.” Wednesday night: Snow likely, mainly before 7 PM, with new snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. THEN WHY DID THEY POST A “WINTER STORM WARNING????” WHICH INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGE: “Widespread snow accumulations of 4 to 6 inches are (and I expected the following word to be “possible”) EXPECTED” !!!!! I feel sorry for all of you folks, model lovers and snow lovers alike, because that wording was unbelievably misleading. If they issued the WSW, then they should have changed the detailed forecast, but they never did. I even checked the detailed forecast for Blacksburg last night, and it said the same thing as Roanoke’s!!! 1-3 inches possible!!
Sam, please tell everyone what I had predicted on Monday evening … and I must admit that even I had forecasted a bit too much.
Hey Kevin, will we see anymore accumulating snow tonight, or is it mostly done in the Roanoke area?
There is one more diehard band to the northwest that’s generally headed toward Roanoke. But it probably will fizzle. I think it’s over.
I, Samuel Goode Oakey III, do hereby promise and swear, that fellow snow hater Douglas Griggs contacted me on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 and predicted we would not even have 2″ of snow in our driveways by Thursday, January 27. Can I have my mail now Doug? Please??