A heavy, wet overnight snow put two inches or more on Floyd County and surrounding area, causing multiple power outages, downed limbs from the weight of snow and limps, and — to make matters worse, — a warning of a potential malware when you click on the Appalachian Power Company map that shows the outages.
If you think it’s nasty here, be glad you’re not in California, where up to eight feet of the white stuff is forecast from a nasty storm hitting there.
Schools in Floyd County and other localities are closed and police are asking people to avoid getting out unless it is necessary. Lady Buffaloes “Senior Night” basketball game against Lord Botetourt, postponed from Wednesday evening, is delayed again.
At our home, the power has blinked off and then back on 13 times as this is written. Our generator kicked in automatically with one outage but then shut down as power returned. Eleven other outages were so brief the generator did not kick until the 13th one, which finally knocked the power out, and we are on generator power as this is written. At one point, I was tempted to shut the electricity from APCo off and let the generator provide electricity until the problem stopped.
The National Weather Service office in Blacksburg has a Winter Weather Advisory in effect until noon Thursday:
…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON EST TODAY…
WHAT…Snow. Additional snow accumulations up to one inch. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph today.
WHERE…Portions of southwest and west central Virginia and southeast West Virginia.
WHEN…Through Noon today.
IMPACTS…Plan on slippery road conditions. Hazardous travel conditions are expected on untreated roads and sidewalks. Downed tree branches and isolated power outages are possible.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A Winter Weather Advisory for snow means that periods of snow will cause travel difficulties. Be prepared for snow covered roads and limited visibilities…and use caution while driving.
Please report snow, sleet or ice accumulations via email at rnk.skywarn@noaa.gov or by calling the National Weather Service toll free at…1…866…215…4324. Leave a message with your observation and the specific location where it occurred. You can also post your report to National Weather Service Blacksburg Facebook page and on Twitter.
The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 511.
Developing story…will be updated throughout the day.