Another round of snow, called a “back side” began this morning with it continuing to fall through the afternoon, adding an expected 1-4 inches to what fell Friday after a lull in the evening.
With temperatures below freezing this morning and expected to hover near there all day, the snow on the ground will be with us for a while.
A drive home from Christiansburg late Friday night found clear roads and no moisture falling but the new storm arrived before 6 a.m. and began to coat the streets and add to the leftovers. Sunday’s forecast is a high of 35 with low of 24, 43 high on Monday and low of 29 then just 35 high and 9 degrees low on Tuesday. Wednesday’s forecast shows a high of just 27 with a low of 17.
Welcome to winter.
On a trip to Roanoke for a doctor’s appointment Friday afternoon, we found snow along U.S. 221 but tapering off by the time we reached Bent Mountain and no snow falling or on the ground by the time we reached the bottom of the mountain and headed into the city.
Clear conditions continued as we headed up U.S. 11 and 460 out of Salem and up to Christiansburg. Heading back to Floyd around 10 p.m. on Virginia Rte. 8, we began to see accumulated snow on the ground before hitting the Floyd-Montgomery County line at Little River but nothing falling and clear roads all the way into town and then towards home.
Snow coverings on parts of Poor Farm and Sandy Flats roads but passable driving conditions with a little moisture in the air before midnight Friday but woke up Saturday morning with snow falling again.
Reports Kevin Myatt of The Roanoke Times:
Snow has rapidly expanded across our region this morning, seemingly out of thin air, just as the forecast models have been telling us would happen but looked somewhat doubtful a few hours ago. Looks pretty solid for 1-2 inches at many locations out of this, locally up to 4. Snow, mostly light to moderate with maybe a brief heavy streak here or there, may linger until midday or beyond, especially Roanoke and north/east.
Adds The National Weather Service in Blacksburg:
.. WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON… * WHAT… ANOTHER ROUND OF SNOW THIS MORNING INTO EARLY AFTERNOON. PLAN ON SLICK ROADS. ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE EXPECTED. * WHERE… PORTIONS OF CENTRAL, SOUTH CENTRAL, SOUTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL VIRGINIA AND NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA. * WHEN… UNTIL 4 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS… BE PREPARED FOR SIGNIFICANT REDUCTIONS IN VISIBILITY AT TIMES. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS… A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW, SLEET AND ICE ARE OCCURRING. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE. THE LATEST ROAD CONDITIONS FOR THE STATE YOU ARE CALLING FROM CAN BE OBTAINED BY CALLING 5 1 1.
Friday’s snow caused cancellations of The Friday Night Jamboree at the Country Store, postponements of scheduled basketball games at Floyd County High School for the evening and a planned varsity invitational indoor track meet where Floyd planned to participate at Heritage High School in Lynchburg and a varsity invitational track meet at Hidden Valley High School in Roanoke.
Best to check to see if other weekend events are still planned before heading out this Saturday morning.
Christiansburg did stage its Christmas Parade on Main Street Friday night.
Ongoing and will be updated as needed. Be careful out there.