Winter Storm in Montgomery, Virginia

Between one and two inches of snow fell across Montgomery County, with the highest report of two inches in the Merrimac area. Between one quarter and three quarters of an inch of ice also accumulated from freezing rain, with the highest report of 0.75 inches in Elliston. Nearly 4,000 customers were reported to have lost power. Key Impacts: power outages and traffic accidents.

A major winter storm brought numerous impacts to Virginia from Sunday January 5th into Monday January 6th. A strong surface low pressure system moved northeastward from the Central Plains and into the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, with the associated warm front lifting northward from the southeast into the lower Mid Atlantic. Precipitation began as snow, but strong warm air advection ahead of the low pressure center, and behind the warm front, led to a transition to all liquid precipitation. Surface temperatures remained below freezing, and so a prolonged period of freezing rain led to ice accumulations from a tenth to up to three quarters of an inch overnight and during the Monday morning commute. Heaviest snowfall accumulations were north of Interstate 64, and heaviest ice accumulations were in the New River Valley and northward into the Roanoke and Southern Shenandoah Valleys. Significant tree damage was observed, especially in Franklin County, where hundreds of trees were downed from the weight of ice. Thousands had lost power by the morning of January 6th.