Where's eshiben when you need him? ;^)
I hope everybody does what they need to do to get prepared, and then stay the fuck home. This is going to be nasty. Stay safe, my friends.
I'm including projections for snow and ice over the three main weather stations for VA, and with the generic name of the links/images, I think they will be auto-updating. I realize there are many of Hokie Nation that are affected by this storm, yet outside of these areas of Virginia, but there's really not enough space to include forecasts across the whole storm area.
Potential snow accumulation, SWVA:
Potential ice accumulation, SWVA:
SWVA winter message: https://www.weather.gov/rnk/winter
Potential snow accumulation, Eastern VA:
Potential ice accumulation, Eastern VA:
Eastern VA winter message: https://www.weather.gov/akq/winter
Potential snow accumulation, NOVA:
Potential ice accumulation, NOVA:
NOVA winter message: https://www.weather.gov/lwx/winter
Edit: Originally posted at 0932, NOVA images are showing 1149 and 1150 timestamps, so these images are in fact auto-updating. Good to know. If you want a history, you'll need to save images manually, I'm not doing that.
Comments
For my case, I shopped earlier this week for milk and TP, and went out last night to get ingredients for a few new recipes I'm going to try, but I forgot one important ingredient for inclement winter weather: orange pineapple juice.
Yellow snow is my kids' favorite snow day treat, and there are only two ingredients: snow and orange pineapple juice.
Gotta head back to the store after work today. Pray for me.
That makes you a terrific dad in my eyes but I'm not sure their mom will want your influence in their life afterwards. (Just kidding)
Stay safe everyone. Expecting a foot or even more in my part of NJ.
hokietopher, what part of NJ? We are in Voorhees, south jersey.
I'm in East Windsor. Wife and I used to live in your area in Berlin. Frosty is not too far from you either (cant remember his town) GGC lives not far from me in Old Bridge or Marlboro, I believe.
Got all the cupboards stocked, and a firm resolution to put in a generator before next winter rolls around.
That's the other annoying thing. The house I bought this summer has a whole house generator, that I just realized I haven't even tried to start. I'm going to need to figure that out tonight, and stock up on fuel tomorrow morning.
In order to test, you should be able to just shut off the main breaker in your electric panel, and if the the generator is set to AUTO, it should kick on.
Most automatic transfer switches are looking at the incoming power and turning off the main will have no effect. You need to turn power off at the transfer switch not the internal breaker.
There is a manual switch (a lever, actually) on the side of the panel box the generator is wired into that will shut off the outside feed, to prevent backfeeding into the grid. I could do that. But is there anything else I could look for to see if there is an automatic start to the generator, before I shut off power to the whole house?
Yet another reason to love The Key Play - I come to the site for football and get Home Improvement!
Not sure, maybe HokieAlum6144 might know. I have a Generac portable 5500 generator which I backfeed my panel with if the power goes out for any length of time.
If it is a manual transfer switch and not automatic. I would shut down most of your optional electrical gear and unplug all the extra chargers etc before throwing the lever. The lever should switch from grid to generator. Any EE let me know if I have it right, but I would have the generator running before switching it over. Otherwise the requirement might strain the alternator more than otherwise when everything tries to draw power all at once.
Is the generator hard wired into the manual transfer switch or is there a plug.
It sounds like a manual start generator and switch rather than an automatic switch system like a Generac.
I checked it out when I got home. It's not a whole house generator, just a portable 5600W generator. I'll need to turn everything but the fridge and the air handler off before hooking it up.
It looks like the right connections to the house are there, with a junction box and a lever to shut off the connection to the grid, and a nicely coiled up cord to plug into the generator. Previous owner did their homework it seems.
When I bought my house, we had an almost whole house generator. Ran all but the heat pump and the oven, for some reason. We never really needed it in the 13+ years we've been here so when it died on us last year, we decided to forgo the expense and let 'er die. We plan on selling soon, and we're not worried about trying to enhance the property. Hope it doesn't bite us on the butt in this one, but our location so close to the Bay keeps a lot of the more egregious stuff being a problem. The water in the Bay actually keeps us warmer in winter and cooler in summer. That said, we're on the line between not great and not good, but will always figure bad is possible. Frozen pipes is the worry with the cold air coming, but we live right across the street from the local convalescent home and only a block away from "downtown" Mathews, with the cop shop and fire dept. there, so power tends to be quickly restored here locally, but if the baaaadddd stuff disrupts the regional stuff, we might be sleeping in the car or something. Got beer, plenty of don't have to cook stuff, roasting a chicken as we speak and made a batch of brownies this morning. Birds are fed and radio is working for the Hokies since our local CW refuses to show live sports through Dish and we get no reception over the air. As set as I can be, I guess.
Here in Chattanooga, we've gone from 8 inches of snow, to tons of ice, to "it might be cold". Hasn't stopped the panic buying though.
Stay safe out there friends.
I'm north of Charlotte and our local weather guy who's awesome is saying we could have freezing rain with accumulations of ice perhaps over an inch (which is insane).
I am fully expecting power to be out Sunday if not Monday. Thankfully we have gas logs with a battery backup starter and a gas stove so we can eat.
Stay safe Hokies
I'm in Davidson. We also have gas fire places with battery backup ignition and a gas stove top so I am sure we will be fine. My basement full of snakes I keep are another story. I think I have solid plan in place to keep them warm enough for a few days but I'm definitely investing in a generator when they are back in stock. I'd love it if all these forecasts bust and we just get rain. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like that will happen.
Eshiben... dang I miss their forecast discussions
Should be a fun weekend down here in Texas! Stores looked like a zombie apocalypse yesterday but we stocked up earlier, thankfully. Stay safe friends!
If you're in NC, follow @ncwx_authority on the socials. It is run by NC State's version of Eshiben. He gives accurate forecasts without the fear mongering and bait to keep you watching. He is credited with predicting Hurricane Helene's massive rain dump on WNC before anybody else caught on.
What is he saying about Eastern NC, specifically the southeastern NC coast?
Cold rain. No impacts to roads or infrastructure.
10-18 inches expected here in state college. Zero degrees overnight for the next week
I hate cold
Just got back from Costco because I'm a sicko (also because today is our normally planned Costco day and we didn't have the opportunity to go earlier due to work travel).
It was crazy, but civilized. Tons of people and huge lines to check out, but everyone was polite and going with the flow. I also didn't see anyone going crazy with overbuying. People with 2 or 3 cases of water was the worst I saw.
All in all, pleasantly surprised with humanity today.
I was in Costco here in Winchester this morning the wife and i like their pot pie good for a few meals guy at the rotisserie chicken said they sold 1000 yesterday always amazed at the panic buying even when we got 36 inches some years ago you aren't home bond more than 3 days
Be safe eveyone
I see this panic buying meme all the time. For some small percentage of people it is. For most it is prudent.
For us, it's not panic buying.
We all have a few things we buy that are purchased every 3-4 days or so:
Bread, milk, tomatoes and other fresh veggies, the meat for 3 dinners.
Then there's other things that we buy periodically that do not expire,:
Paper products, supplies for the kids like crayons, plastic bags, bourbon.
If they forecast a storm we are going to grab those things that we buy every 3-4 days. We do this because we may not have travel ability. Then the trucks that bring those things may not have travel ability. So, over buy- a little. Every couple of years one of these storms is very disruptive.
Ask the people of Asheville if they have an surprises lately.
While I construct my needs for the week I have to keep in mind that daughters will be eating at hole instead of school lunch, wife's office will be closed and so coffee and lunches will be from our own pantry.
And if the storm turns out to be nothing, I've wasted no money simply shifted the spend to the left.
For the rotisserie chicken (that I did not buy), If I do not need it then it gets stripped of it's meet for a future dish and the bones roasted for stock. No waste.
Because everyone is getting tings to cover an extra day or 2, it appears to some as panic buying whem it's really people being prudent.
I hear you and was not intending to label or judge anyone i too usually just buy what we consume every 3-5 days that said years ago i was a supervisor for 7/11 stores in the WVA panhandle and during snow storms customers would literally ascend on the milk and bread man getting 6 gallons of milk and 4 loafs of bread at a time
Go Hokies
> ... supplies for the kids like crayons, plastic bags, bourbon.
We all have our methods for managing kids that are inside for extended periods....
Like you said below, let us know the results of the experiment....
Some people hear a storm is coming and they stock up on milk, bread, and eggs.
And then there's me stocking up on things to make chili.
Did that, too. So far, I got the makings for six recipes, two I had tried before:
- stick of butter chicken casserole (did that last night, worked great)
- birria tacos (actually bought dried ancho and guajillo chili this time)
- beef and broccoli, crockpot version
- a spinach and ravioli casserole
- griddle smoked sausage and tortellini with onions/peppers and italian dressing
- chili
Gonna have a lot of leftovers!
Ok. I'm coming to your house.
If you can help with the generator, you're greatly welcome!
I can get you 400w of that sweet 120v with the ol' Taco. That count? 🤣
I hear you on the generator, though. If I lose power and y'all see a man on his balcony with an ass pocket and a camp stove, heating his chili... mind ya business.
No need to crockpot beef and braccoli. Thinly sliced beef against the grain cooked hot and fast is the way to go. My favorite recipe is below if you're interested.
Also, dried chilis are hands down better than chili powder in any recipe. Gamechanger.
https://www.seriouseats.com/chinese-american-beef-and-broccoli-with-oyst...
That looks fire. I love Kenji. Been watching his (free) recipe videos on Patreon recently.
I don't think I've had a single Kenji recipe that I haven't liked. So many on Serious Eats that are amazing. Some of my favorite (just google Kenji + recipe name to find the recipe):
- Halal chicken and rice
- Baked ziti (I add a pack of Italian sausage boiled and cut into half moons)
- Beef barbacoa
- Black bean burgers
- Carnitas
- Chicken scarpariello
- "the best chili ever" (I usually use ground beef or turkey)
- Crispy braised chicken thighs
- Gyudon
- Jerk chicken
To name a few :)
I think I'll try this recipe instead. Thanks for sharing!
Of course. Hope you like it!
My pantry is always well stocked, and so is my extra freezer in my garage.
When I hear a storm is coming I run out and stock up on beer.
I don't understand the need to buy French toast ingredients. The most perishable shit you can get.
I went to WalMart at 10pm Tuesday night and got apples, oranges, peanut butter, junk food, and beer. And a few things I can cook on the grill or in a pot on the grill.
This is The Way
I stocked up on ingredients to make spaghetti bolognese, roast chicken, chili and tacos.
We may be snowed in but dammit we're going to eat well
I bought things to make old fashions.
Unrelated to this storm event, Chattanooga Distillery has an experimental section where they make small batch stuff. I bought a chocolate chili whiskey last weekend... You know, for science
Reports of the experiments are required.
To follow up on this, this whiskey was more spice than cocoa. It had a really great warming effect through the mouth and chest with a cocoa aftertaste. Thinking of making an coffee-chocolate-whiskey concoction kind of drink for it on cold days like today. An Irish Mocha as it were.
The other batch this month was a cola inspired one that I didn't find as enjoyable. It had hints of cola and sarsaparilla, and was a little too sweet/medicinal for my tastes.
Link for reference
We're close to making chili but we bought stuff for cowboy casserole which is ground beef, kidney beans and vegetables covered with modified corn bread and baked. So it has most of the ingredients of chili but no quite chili
Today is my youngest daughter's birthday, Lauren.
She wants Salmon with a saffron cream sauce, basmati rice, roasted carrots with buttered ginger sauce.
So she gets it.
First meal my wife ever made for me was called cornbread tamale pie. Basically, what you described. This was in 1973 and the recipe was on a can ofCampbell's tomato soup. At the time, I thought it was the best meal in the world, but it was also about the epitome of her cooking. She's stepped up her game with this dish, though, in response to my being out of the kitchen after knee surgery, and has added to it, but it still has the requisite beef, tomato and cornbread, and we still call it cornbread tamale pie.
Seeing up to 18" for my part of the Philly suburbs. Going to the store in about an hour to stock up so wish me luck. Here's hoping it won't be too bad since there's an extra half day to prep compared to the VA crowd. Planning on doing ribs and cornbread and cinnamon rolls and almond pound cake to cope with being stuck inside all Sunday and Monday.
NOVA is flirting with the ice line now. Snow is awful but manageable, ice will really fuck things up here for a good long time.
Slight disagree - snow is AWESOME. Fully agree with the part on Ice, though. I live in central NC (near Durham) and we're supposed to get just ice which I'm not thrilled about. We just made a last minute decision to go to the inlaws in Blacksburg tonight ahead of the storm - I believe they're supposed to be getting about a foot of snow
though, now that I'm looking at these models for Blacksburg, it looks to me that they're going to get 2-8 inches of snow. Still better than ice, but not the foot+ I'm seeing reported elsewhere
Small amounts of ice are manageable, but it's half inch and beyond where it really messes things up, I've heard.
A dusting wrecks NOVA traffic. Anything more than .05" of ice is problematic. With the ice potential that is in the forecast AND the temperature forecast, the area is going to be totally screwed until the 2nd week of February because thats the earliest the daytime highs will even have a chance to melt anything.
I love the people who stock up on items that need to be refrigerated. High chance of power outages, so.....
If only there were a huge source of frozen water somewhere to help with that. ;^)
to be fair, if it's that cold outside you can just stick it out there
If you have the ability to store stuff outside, that's an option as long as you can keep critters out. The daytime highs aren't going to get close to non-freezing temps for a week.
My personal contingency is moving the immediate perishables to coolers, and just keeping them closed. Extremely minimal chance of anything larger than a raccoon getting into if, if they can.
Currently -3 in Chicago
Tomorrow by the time the basketball game starts it'll be above 5 degrees, so I'll probably venture out to watch the game with another Hokie
Fortunately my daughter is tracking out the next 3 weeks so we were already planning on driving to florida tomorrow morning to visit the inlaws next week
The forecast for Richmond is just getting worse and worse with each update. Currently looking at 0.5" to 1" of ice. Going to stay with the in-laws this weekend since they have a gas stove and a gas fireplace. So at least we can cook hot food and have some form of heat.
I'm supposed to drive down to a work conference in ATL Tuesday with some coworkers...we will see about that.
Stay safe and warm everyone! At least the FIL has an outstanding bourbon selection!
I gotta say it pisses me off that the freaking HIGH on Sunday is 20 freaking degrees and its gonna freaking sleet all day...
Overnight low in NOVA is going to be 9 tonight (around ~6 AM tomorrow morning). Personally, I plan to go out and take a big deep inhale of the morning air to get prepped :-)
Lots of snow and not a ton of ice is what it's looking like in Huntington. Bought a sled for the kids, hoping we can just ride out a fun snow day or two without huge other issues. Fingers crossed.
Calling for 16" of snow here in Cincinnati
Our forecasts in Loudoun are everywhere...seeing 14" snow/1/2 inch ice to 3-5 inches of mixed precipitation.
Worst part is first day showing any temp above 32 degrees is the 2nd of Feb.
If the suns out, snow and ice will melt anything over like 28 degrees
Looks like a lot of the snowfall predictions are switching to ice. That might be too bad if it were sleet, but from what I'm seeing, its freezing rain which just fucking sucks. That's gonna weigh down everything and cause a ton of problems
Checking in from Orlando. No comment. Stay safe up there.
I noticed that Florida decided to opt out of the other contiguous States winter storm watch this weekend. Enjoy your golf.
Went from nine inches predicted at 3:30 pm. To 4.8 inches🙄 I'm tired of the weather people overhyping storms. And it doesn't end up being anywhere close
I would rather get 15 inches of powder than an inch of ice though.
I wish for any snow over eight inches. It's been awhile
Ryan Hall was saying that the I-95 Northeast corridor is extremely difficult to predict, so if you think the weatherman is always wrong about that area you're mostly right.
Ryan Hall is a YouTube weather guy who's really good.
What about SWVA🤣
SWVA is somewhat included in that because of the unpredictability of storms moving through the Appalachian Mountains. I've noticed watching radar that storms we get in Chicago move east at a consistent rate then fade when they hit the mountains, but it's not clear where in the mountains they die. If you really want to learn about why, Ryan Hall Y'all or some other weather or geography YouTuber's probably have a video on it. Ryan Hall taught me to read tornado maps.
I've been seeing in a few places that a lot of models can't or just don't tell the difference between snow and sleet, which is why the estimates always start high.
Thought this was interesting.
I mean thats like like the distance from Denmark to Bulgaria so ...
Takes 24 hours to drive across so not that shocking. I was born in a blizzard in El Paso so you just never know in Texas
^^^ about how I looked walking the dog this morning ^^^
5 degrees in NJ when I got up to go to dentist this morning.
Was I the only one who reflexively wondered if the dentist's name is "Crentist"?
Same for me when I biked to the grocery store today. It was about 6 degrees and flurries. I basically couldn't feel anything through my parka, upper body layers, 3 layers of long underwear plus khakis plus another layer of pants, ski mask, winter hat, ski helmet and goggles.
That, my friend, is why God made the internal combustion engine.
I sold my car a couple years ago, much easier to get around the city on my bike or transit. Plus saves me at least $500 a month. Grocery stores are pretty close to my house, so I don't miss the car at all even when it's 0 degrees outside.
Sold my car and bought a e-bike in Dec 2024. I figured if I could stand in Lane Stadium for 4 hours then a 30 min bike ride couldn't be any worse. Don't miss the costs for the car at all. Insurance on the bike went down this year too.
It would be hard to tow the boat, tractor, dump trailer, skid steer, etc with an ebike but it actually sounds nice.
Yeah, I've never lived anywhere that I didn't need (not just want) a car, and now, I'm too old to care to bike anyway, though an ebike does intrigue me in a really small town with little traffic.
I wanted to get rid of my car so I purposely moved to a place where I could do that. I wasn't able to when I lived in Madison or Nova.
I'm wfh so I don't really go anywhere the ebike can't get me in town. Roanoke isn't big enough for anywhere to be too far away, just some places aren't the easiest or safest to get to on the bike. I always joke that I would have been a menace if ebikes had been around when I was a kid.
I don't even pay insurance on my ebike. I got it on sale for about $1,000. Currently has 1,673 miles on it.
nice. I basically traded the car for mine, but I needed a lightweight ebike because I have to carry it up a crap ton of stairs to get it in the house. I only have insurance on it for in-case I get hit by a car. It's a class 3 and written up as motorcycle insurance. I've put over 1k miles on mine so far.
Ah. Mine is Class 2, so I have a throttle and it's supposed to max out at 20mph, but because I've had to have the motor replaced a few times I can get to like 23mph on some of Chicago's rare very slight downhills.
I had to buy a speedometer for mine since I new I was speeding through a neighborhood while full assist was on. It also helps me know how fast I'm going on the greenway and can adjust easily for other people or groups of people. Don't need to blow buy them and make it dangerous. I've got mine above 30 mph but that was going down a big steep hill to my parents house. I've also tuned the assist down a little to get better battery life and I don't really need to go that fast all the time.
you don't always need to go fast to be first. Just ask the tortoise. 🐢
We're packing up the fam, driving 30min, and staying with the in-laws (who have a generator, basement, and gas powered stove, water heater, etc).
Tornados and ice storms are increasingly more common in GA/atl over the last 5 years. Feels like every 3-6 months there's a weather event that our home isn't designed for (tornado, hurricane winds, ice storm, etc) so we have to 'evacuate' to our in-laws home in the burbs 'just in case'.
Curious if anyone here has weather/wind-proofed (for lack of a better term) their house? Improved insulation and a generator/power bank is obvious, not sure what I need to do to be able to stay in my home during extreme winds/storms. Just cover my widows? Or something structural?
Where my civil engineers/experienced home owners at??
Well this civil engineer has a whole house generator, outdoor woodstove, gas fireplace, and a well/septic system for self reliance. I have 2 cords stacked and dried in the wood shed next to the outdoor unit. It is time for me to go cut another UTV load and split it before the game at 2:15.
in NEFL so not equipped for ice/snow. when we replaced our HVAC, got a variable speed that draws A LOT LESS to get going so we can run it off our generator (8750/7000 inverter) when the wind knocks out the power. have an interlock switch on the panel and an inlet. runs central air, fridge and lights. to recharge the hot water, can switch it out for the A/C for an hour or 2. have a gas stove (and outdoor grills/burners) so we can cook.
Was having a mini panic attack thru the week. Heat went out last Friday night into Saturday. Due to their corporate BS, and the authorized hvac guy having the flu, went without for a week. Wasnt bad during the week....I'm on the second floor and surrounded by other units. Finally sent someone down yesterday to look at it, after numerous emails, calls, pops into the office. Turns out a mud dauber wasp built a nest up the exhaust and blocked the airflow. It couldnt expel the air and would choke itself out, putting out the pilot light. They have it locked up and I don't have the key so I couldnt even call my own guy to look at it. At least its back to working now, and just in time for the -1 windchill this morning.
Just starting to sleet in the NC triad. Hoping for more of that and less of the freezing rain it's supposed to turn into.
I've got two cords of firewood to burn in my fireplace. I'll probably go outside tomorrow and hand split some more for the hell of it. The weather will be bitching that it's too FlyGuy outside.
Woke up to about 4 inches of snow here in Manassas. It's supposed to turn to freezing rain after 9am and continue until around 8pm.
I'm as prepped as can be, plenty of food and activities for my boys, plenty of towels to wipe down our newfoundland. No generator, but we rarely lose power or for long. This is likely the worst storm we'll experience since moving to this house as far as potential power loss, so we will see.
My snowblower started right up when I test ran it Thursday, then my wife commented on Friday when I got home she could smell gas in the garage. Turns out it's weeping gas from somewhere around the carburetor. It's been a pain in the ass with various issues since I bought it. So much for buying a new one to avoid problems
Stay safe Dave...
Check the drain nut on the bottom of the carb bowl. Could be a little loose or gasket may be bad. Also check tubing which sometimes dries out and cracks at one of the conmections. Sometimes you can cut off the cracked end and reattach if theres enough slack. In any case, if it's still leaking I'd put it out outside. Tarp it if you have too but dont leave it in the garage if it's dripping gas. Fumes are no joke and can ignite. I'm sure HokieFireman would agree. Best of luck and be safe!
Edit- just remembered it could be a stuck float in the carb as well causing it to leak out the vent hole. Tilt the blower and bang back down a bunch of times and see if that stops it.
It ran fine, no issues. I'm leaning towards a stuck float as the problem. I ran it empty so it'll keep until I can get replacement gaskets (just in case) and warmer temps to pull the carb off to clean it.
Sounds good. check the seat on the needle valve too. That can cause the float to not seat right
I'm tempted to just get a 2nd carb. Then I'll have a spare on hand to swap out when I need to and can then clean the fouled one when it's warm enough to leave the garage door open.
Not a bad plan. I once had the carb on my generator fouled by a little piece of pine needle in one of the inner ports.
Pain in the ass to find when you're already in the dark.
Rain and a layer of ice on everything here in Chattanooga. Hoping the power lines don't get too weighed down. A day of projects and such ahead, otherwise a day of bundling up and reading.
Reporting from christiansburg.
Its 12 degrees, was 10 when I got up. Those cold temps have been a blessing. It sleeted all nite, which knocked all the snow off trees and power lines. No freezing rain, so far. Today will tell the tale. Hope it stays cold. I've got my work cut out for me today, but we are feeling pretty blessed so far.
Take care Hokie Nation!
Montgomery County here. We have 4 inches maybe. Nothing happening right now.
Central VA had 3-4 inches of heavy (meaning weight) snow before turning to freezing rain this morning. Shoveled all of the snow off to hopefully not have extra ice to get rid of before my wife likely has to get to work tomorrow.
Luckily it seems like the snow didnt come down enough to sit in the trees. Freezing rain doesn't have much to get caught in to add additional weight before the wind comes tomorrow. Hoping no power outages now.
Can report similar here in NOVA - woke up to about 4" on the ground, but next to nothing on the trees. Will see what the late morning brings, but at least there's minimal extra weight on the branches for the moment.
Got about 6 inches of dry, light snow here in York County, PA. It's been coming down at a steady rate for a while now. Hope it all stays a dry snow, but think the prediction is for some sleet or ice before it all moves out.
Checking in from Midlothian, VA down by the Swift Creek Reservoir... pretty disappointing accumulation for the elementary schoolers in my house who just want to sled. Apple weather says we've received 11" of precipitation in the last 24 hours, but there is only 2-3" on hard surfaces and less in the grass (can still see the tips). Crystalline heavy heart attack snow with wintery mix continuing throughout the afternoon. Stay safe, Hokies!
Mathews on the Middle Peninsula here. We had a couple of inches or so last night, but the sleet started this morning. Lasted for a bit then turned to all rain as the temp went up to 33. Things will likely get ugly as temps go down, which they're predicted to do. No power loss yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Right there with you on the NNK. Same shit, different peninusla.
And two days later, no power loss, but my downstairs HVAC was not feeling well, and the downstairs went down to about 55 degrees, which sucks when the chimney is blocked and I can't keep a fire going. Got a wood burning stove in the living room, and I can't even open the door without it belching smoke into the room, and eventually any fire I start just gets snuffed out. I'd go up and try to clear the blockage (which I'm sure is just ice), but I don't have a ladder that long, and am not keen to go up on the roof right now. Hey, at least the upstairs is warm. =^/
Maybe once the ice is gone I can call Charlie Carter, because I hear that Charlie Carter cleans chimneys. (Middle peninsula reference, for those who don't know.)
NC Triad is thankfully still just sleet. It keeps coming down, but is fine enough we are not seeing much build up. 2-3" where it's not drifting.
Still have a 4-6 hour window of freezing rain to pass through VA,NC til about 9/10 pm Sunday. This is the most likely time for any power outages to occur(along with the winds picking up overnight into Monday...
Forecast for 16" here in Cincy and we probably have 10-12" so far. Light powder, easy to blow or shovel. Looks like it might be done snowing now. Went to the local hill, but sledding was tough because the kids didn't weigh enough to pack down some decent tracks.
Christiansburg report again. We have about 6" of snow and sleet. The amazing thing is, ive checked my app and watched the radar off n on all day waiting for the freezing rain to get here, and Bburg and Cburg have been blessed w a cold spot which has stayed blue and not gone pink on the rolling radar all day. I can verify as I was working on my and my neighbors driveways and walks. It has not rained at all. Amazing we got saved like that.
Have seen pics from Marion, VA and Nashville that are really bad.
We've been very lucky.
And this main round is ending in about an hour.
Same in Roanoke so far, but we don't even have 4" here. Gotten hella lucky so far, just need that luck to hold on a bit longer
Lovettsville VA here.....snowfall 10+ inches. Not sure how much above that.. Earlier today, turned to a very dry frozen snow pellet. It is not accumulating on limbs or power lines. It is accumulating on the ground but blows around it's so dry. Thank goodness or fallen limbs and/or trees would have wreaked havoc on the overhead lines out here.
Cleared the 160 ft driveway once today. Will make another pass in the AM. Took the truck for a spin a few times. Main roads were/are being cleared and neighborhood roads a few passes. Some roads, especially unpaved roads, haven't been touched. Took the dogs around the property (6.6 acres) a few times. Put up wind guards (tarps) around the chicken coops in our chicken yard.
Started the fireplace fire around 8am. Still going strong.
"frozen snow pellet" == sleet.
Or maybe "graupel"
Frozen snow pellets often mixed with rain or snow. These were tiny, fine ice pellets dry to the bone. Sleet has a "wet" component due to the "mix of snow or rain.
This stuff didn't remind me of any sleet I've ever been in and I'm very happy it wasn't. We more than likely would have lost power earlier today.
Great location near harpers ferry. We camped near there a couple summers ago and did lunch at The Rabbit Hole with our pups. Great spot. We hiked 2 miles from our campsite back in forth on a trail along the rail tracks. Good time!
We "Lovett" in Lovettsville. Beautiful, quiet, peaceful. Harper's Ferry is a great area, so much to do. Jefferson Rock, the museum's, the brewery, pub, etc. The MD Heights and Old Stone Fort hikes are awesome. Have done them plenty of times.
It's finally stopped snowing on the North Side of Chicago. I think it's still coming down on the South Side. About 6 inches on my patio.
Just about done here with the weather system in NOVA. The freezing rain never materialized and we've had wintery mix all afternoon. Things stayed extremely powdery until the afternoon when the sleet took over, which made things a bit harder to plow but definitely the better option to have to deal with.
Total accumulation was ~8"
Nothing but rain down here on the NC Coast. Thankfully.
In Roanoke: We got 4 inches of snow at the very beginning, then it turned to sleet by dinner time and continued to sleet through Saturday night and all of Sunday. I'd say we ended up with 4 inches of sleet on top of the 4 inches of snow.
Richmond VA, looks like the freezing rain ended up not being as bad as feared last check on Rappahannock electric they have 0 reported outages. Was nervous with all the forecasted ice but seems to have been a decent miss. That all said back roads in the country are bad sheets of ice.
Yeah-neighborhood roads suck but no widespread power outages. To see the bullet we dodged, see Norther Mississippi-they have folks who will be out for WEEKS; imagine that with the forecast highs here for all week being freezing or below and lows being single digits!
NNK electric had only two outages that I saw, and I hear that Dominion got all their customers back on in our area, Gloucester and NNK, by last night (evidenced by the fact that the wife came home).
4+ inches of snow and then 4-5 " of sleet on top here Southeast of Harrisonburg. It sucks. All that sleet just rolled off the roof so I have 2' high piles in front of my garage doors and at my back door. Had to dig out my boiler intake a couple times too.
Got close to the 18" we were expecting up here in Central PA. Light powder, easy to shovel. No power outages so far, about fifteen degree high for the next week. Time to dig out.
Yeah, I think we got about 12-15 inches in Harrisburg this weekend. Luckily most of the streets are already clear... but it's not going to get above freezing for at least a week.
HOAT- what part of central PA are you in?
IIRC he's in State College.
the spreadsheet abides
Yep State College
HOAT is the one who got into Franklin's ear about coming here.
That's a little kinky HOAT, but Hokie Nation is grateful for your efforts. /s
A HOATs gotta do what a HOATs gotta do
We thank you for your service.
Have a treat.
Also there is potential at least for another significant storm towards end of upcoming weekend!
Love seeing 40% chance of snow 6 days out in coastal SC knowing that 65 and sunny is the likely outcome.
Edit: just double checked the forecast already changed to rain with a 50 degree high.
In Abingdon, trees down with a full inch of ice on every little branch. The trees that haven't snapped in the yard are bent over to the ground like weeping willows.
Thankfully our ice was in the form of little pellets that bounced off of trees, rather than stick to them. But it made shoveling this morning a giant pain in the ass.
Here in Winchester no freezing rain a good amount of sleet on top of 7 or so inches of snow this morning i went out for the third time twice yesterday before the playoffs snow/sleet was so hard my 250 lb self 240 lb plow and whatever the tractor weight we just drove over it had to try to get a little broken area to push it away got done took a drive roads were in surprisingly good shape some retail parking lots not so much stay safe
So I ended up with a combined 6" or so of snow/sleet to the NE of Blacksburg. It took nearly 6 hours to get the driveway and walks cleared. Of course my drive is also a half mile long.
I've got about 2 inches of ice on top of about 3 inches of snow. I'm about 3 hours into shoveling and sweeping the stairs and driveway to get to the road. I still haven't made it to the road yet. I also have only cleared half of the driveway that is directly in front of the stairs to get up to the house. I only have a normal 2 car driveway but it's all down hill from the house. Kinda wish I had a flamethrower for the job.
I have no idea what my snow/ice ratio is, but there's a big hump in front of my front door, so I've been doing all the leaving the house through the garage. Planning to get some salt out there in the afternoon, hopefully that will help break that up.
Not even gonna bother with the driveway. Nobody is visiting, and there's new crushed run (as of mid-November) underneath, so I'm not inclined to mess that up.
It took 6 hours with the tractors front end loader acting as a plow.
So, guess what may be coming this weekend for those on the eastern seaboard?
According to the WaPo, both the Euro and the GFS models say that we're looking at a "double bomb cyclone" forming over the Atlantic. Yippee!
Fair, as it looks like the set up is there for another system. Personally I'd wait until at least tomorrow to begin putting stock in the forecast, to give it more time to come together. It also gives those of us in New England another day to dig out lol 😅
I get waiting until the forecast firms up, but when both the Euro and the GFS are in agreement this far out (which is rare), and given the predicted rate of strengthening, it doesn't bode well.
From the WaPo (pay link): https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/01/27/east-coast-winter-stor...
This would normally just be a nasty January rainstorm but for the polar vortex in place. I hate this timeline and want off.
Oh definitely, I wholeheartedly agree! I think the alignment of models definitely points to formation with a high level of confidence. I guess the million dollar question is where does it hit / who gets hit the worst?
Looks like a good weekend to spend in the Bahamas. looks at the calendar
Until they cancel the flight due to snow...
We are driving to the port and taking a ship. I don't doubt that there are storm situations that might still detail the trip, but the are less likely
Have fun.
I spoke too soon, the weather caused us to shift destinations. Cozumel bound now
don't get too excited yet...it's still a long ways out - plenty of time for the forecast to change drastically
I just want to make it to the bull and oyster roast Saturday night. Our group gets our monies worth in oysters for sure.
Got buried here in the Dayton area. Record breaking. Unfortunately, the base is open for business again and I'm headed back to work today. Boo.
Comical because Fort Belvoir is still closed and only got about 6 inches. They have only managed to open one lane at one gate so far. People tried to go in. Traffic was backed up almost nine miles on Route 1.
It's the inch of sleet and ice compacted down that is the issue in VA. Here in Richmond metro, neighborhood streets are mostly still sheets of ice and likely to only get sanded and chemicals for transaction. Temps not getting above freezing during day and dropping to single digits each night means whatever tiny melt occurs refreezes every night. (Normally VA doesn't get this prolonged extremely cold weather after snow/ice storms so melting is done in few days.
https://www.12onyourside.com/2026/01/28/vdot-shifts-traction-treatment-traditional-plowing-fails-icy-streets/
Oh and another chance for eastern and central NC/VA snow this weekend-though exact path of the low will be critical in who if anyone gets snow and how much. Very much boom/bust with even a 20-50 mile variation in the track!
Ice is waning a bit in the southwestern corner of the state despite the bitter cold. I am jonesing so bad to go fish on the Tennessee side. I have been seeing pictures of great striper fishing up the creeks before this snap hit.
Can confirm. Here in Midlothian my street is basically an ice rink. The main streets are fine but very few people can get to them as the neighborhoods are all ice.
I have a coworker that lives in the city and her street got plowed but when they came back and plowed the two abutting cross streets, it left giant piles of snow that melted a bit and then re-froze so her neighborhood is effectively blocked in by ice walls.
This is Churchill- 'the graveyard of cars'
https://www.12onyourside.com/2026/01/28/east-franklin-street-becomes-graveyard-cars-after-icy-conditions/
And now we are looking at whiteout/blizzard/near blizzard conditions for this weekend! Just to add some snow on TOP of that ice! At least it's supposed to gert above freezing next week!
Last I saw the forecast was another 3" of snow. Montgomery County schools have basically just closed for the week.
holy hell
Just a reminder, the images in the main post are updated as new data comes in. They are currently showing snow and ice accumulations for this weekend, not last.
Potential snow accumulation, SWVA:
Potential snow accumulation, eastern VA:
Potential snow accumulation, NOVA:
Weather is really weird this year. Can't recall a year where Richmond got so much more snow than here in Loudoun.
Suffolk is getting more than Loudoun.
Yeah we are slated for .5" while my in laws beach house is slated for 12.9"
Thanks for the reminder it's live links-now I've saved em to my faves so I can use every winter!
Topsail Island checking in here...
Leaving after work today to spend a long weekend in the Valley. Not gonna mess around with the 4"-800" they are predicting. Especially when they have zero infrastructure in place to deal with it.
When I moved to Respond, I expected more snow than I got growing up in Richmond and seemingly in the past 15 years Richmond/Beach area has been getting more than me in the "mountains"
This is my third winter in Chicago, but today is the first time I've experienced a true lake effect snowstorm. It just snowed like 3 inches in the last 45 minutes.
Very nice. What happened to nice mid week snowstorms where we get days off work. Instead we spend all weekend cleaning snow so we can go back to work on Mondays.
2nd weekend in a row all the weather people called for Raleigh to get nailed and we end up with a whole lot of nothing.
At this point, they're all the boys who cried wolf
The WxRisk guy had a theory about why all of the predictions have been so wild. With several NWS stations shut down or scaled back, there's less data going into the models.
I buy this. The app on my phone is reporting single digits every morning but I put a thermometer outside and it's usually 7-10 degrees warmer than the app claims.
Do you still stand by this?
Christiansburg checking in. 6 to 8 inches from this round. Light fluffy stuff, super dry snow, makes it much easier to manage. Except that we have 4 inches of ice everywhere under it. So u can manage to the limits of what you did for the last storm. Still coming down, may get another inch or more before this ends.
Stay safe Hokie Nation!
Lol, really? I live just north of Blacksburg and we got maybe 2 inches. Then again apparently Floyd got a foot.
Yes, really.
Just crazy the difference in snow between Cburg and Bburg.
Before dark we counted a dozen or so flakes here in Mathews. OK with me, but the wife really loves to see it snow.
I didn't see a damn thing just north of you. /shrug
We are 10"+ north of Charlotte. My kids aren't going to school anytime soon :(
My house in Charlotte received 9 to 10 inches of snow. Thankfully it was light powder that wasn't too difficult to shovel off the driveway. Problem is the city never plows the side streets
I was told it was the 4th highest snowfall in Charlotte history. A friend made an igloo for his kids in the backyard.
Here on the Middle Peninsula, we got bupkis. No snow, temp bottomed out at 22, and yeah, I'm fine with that.
Made it to Cozumel despite some rough seas last night. Presently feels like 76
Did you say 76?
That's how many points the Lady HOKIES just scored to beat loluva!!!
Flip that around and it's.....
Still digging out here in Eastern NC (on the coast). The county where I work (Duplin)has one snow plow (so I was told)... not sure how many our county (Pender) has. But anything other than a main road/highway is still pretty dicey.
This storm was crazy, my sister in Suffolk got maybe 2 inches according to her but was forecast for 10".
Yeah, I was asked to come into the office today (I was in Virginia anticipating a remote day) even though we have all the capabilities of working remote. I left at 4:30. It's usually a 4.5 hour drive, made it in almost 6. The highways were fine, but anything off the interstate was dicey, and none of the side roads had been touched.
My cousin in Kure beach got 8" on the beach. All snow.
Does he have any idea what the street value of that beach is?
Always a leg for a 'Better Off Dead' reference...
Mid-Atlantic Florida chiming in. Dry as a bone here, so no precipitation. But in 15 years here, never seen it drop below 34°. The past two nights have had lows of 25° and 27°, respectively. I'm gonna have a lot of digging to do this spring to replace all the dead plants in my landscaping.
Wear a hardhat to protect against the falling iguanas.
I wish I was in Tiajuana
Eating barbequed iguana
Wow you guys got that much in NC? Up here in PA we only got that big snow ten days ago and no new snow since aside from a minor dusting. Biggest problem up here is the extended cold - highs in the teens to low twenties and lows in the single digits for the last two weeks. Forecast has us getting above freezing sometime next week. But not before negative lows and single digits highs this weekend
I call that real weather
Aww, shit. Here we go again.
One inch...
At one point, the GFS was predicting three feet of snow in the DC area. Which just goes to show you how much the GFS sucks.
So, the winter weather pages are back up, and can be found below.
Eastern VA: https://www.weather.gov/akq/winter
Northern VA: https://www.weather.gov/lwx/winter
Looks likely to be a light to moderate snowfall, but the high end possibilities are pretty stout.
Of interest (in addition to the below images) are also the "Percent Chance That Snow and Sleet Amounts Will Be Greater Than..." estimates on each page.
Northern VA expected:
Northern VA high-end:
Eastern VA expected:
Eastern VA high-end:
Remember, these images are self-updating, and reflect the most recent estimate. Good thing they have image headers, so you can keep track of which image is which and when they're updated.
I still miss eshiben.
https://www.thekeyplay.com/users/eshiben5
My sister got 15+ in Morehead City. Freeze here in St Aug hammered the mangroves that have been inching their way north the last 25 years.
We have had whiteout conditions and at least tropical storm force winds for over 12 hours at this point 👀 approaching two feet of snow with drifts double that in Rhode Island
Edit: final count 34 inches near Newport RI. Insane 🤯
Yeah, my sister in Millbury, MA already reporting about 2 feet so far, and it isn't supposed to stop until 7 am tomorrow.
Yeah, we got about 2 feet here in Sandwich, on top of what we already had. Fortunately, I only lost power for a couple of hours. They are saying some could be without for days.
We got around a foot in the middle of Delmarva. Mascott might have gotten close to 18" along the DE seashore.
Over 20 inches in East Windsor NJ.