A harsh winter storm that has brought bone-chilling cold and snow to a wide band across the middle of the U.S. Sunday has triggered a state of emergency in Virginia, as well as travel advisories, delays and cancellations.
About 63 million people in the U.S. were under some kind of winter weather advisory, watch or warning on Sunday, according to Bob Oravec with the National Weather Service. About a dozen states were in the zone of the powerful storm, the product of Arctic air from Canada.
Nearly a foot of precipitation, half of it snow, is expected to be dropped on Charlottesville and surrounding Central Virginia between Sunday night and Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Sleet and rain are also in the mix.
“Travel could be very difficult. The hazardous conditions could impact the Monday morning and evening commutes,” the weather service said in a statement.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued a state of emergency Friday evening ahead of the storm. With three special elections on Tuesday for open seats in the General Assembly, the governor also invoked state code provisions that allow the commissioner of elections to take emergency measures for voting.
States of emergency were also declared in Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and West Virginia.
‘It may be the heaviest snowfall in at least a decade’
The storm began sweeping east across the Midwest on Saturday, and by Sunday, snow and ice blanketed major roadways in nearly all of Kansas, western Nebraska and parts of Indiana.
In Kansas and Missouri, blizzard conditions brought wind gusts of up to 45 mph. Parts of upstate New York saw 3 feet or more of snow.
The storm was forecast to move into the Ohio Valley and reach the mid-Atlantic overnight into Monday, with a hard freeze expected as far south as Florida.
“For locations in this region that receive the highest snow totals, it may be the heaviest snowfall in at least a decade,” the weather service said Sunday.
The storms have already wreaked havoc for the nation’s railways, leading to numerous cancellations. More than 20 cancellations were planned on Sunday, 40 for Monday and at least two for Tuesday.
“If local authorities are telling people not to travel, it’s counterintuitive to try to run a full slate of services when people are being told to stay home,” Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said. “Likewise, we know our people are going to have trouble getting in to work.”
Students in Charlottesville and surrounding Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson and Orange counties already had Monday off for a planned teacher workday.
And while crews at Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport spent the hours before the storm’s arrival brining the runways, departures and arrivals are ultimately the responsibility of airlines and by Sunday evening several flights in and out of the airport were canceled, largely coming and going from Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; and Washington, D.C.
Shovels, sleds, ice melt selling out
As of Sunday afternoon, conditions were worsening in the western part of Virginia. The Virginia State Police said troopers had responded to more than 100 crashes as of Sunday afternoon.
Between noon and 3:30 p.m., the state police investigated 85 crashes in the Wytheville District, which handles southwest Virginia, including three with injuries. Fifty-one crashes, four of which had injuries, were reported in the Salem District in the Roanoke area.
The agency has increased the number of troopers on roads to handle the storm. They’re working 12-hour shifts as well, the department said.
Hardware stores across the commonwealth were selling out of shovels, ice melt and sleds over the weekend.
At Pleasants Hardware in Richmond, assistant manager Art Ryan said the store had started the day with four pallets of ice melt that were gone by 11 a.m.
Shovels and sleds were sold out by 2 p.m.
“The meteorologists have mentioned icing on the power lines and that power outages are possible,” he said, “so batteries, flashlights and lanterns have also been popular.”
The storm is expected to give way to sunny skies and temperatures in the 20s and 30s in the Charlottesville area for much of the remainder of the week. Snow, however, is back in the forecast next Saturday.
Daily Progress staff contributed to this story.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com