Winter Storm — Eastern Essex, Virginia

2025-01-05 to 2025-01-06 · Eastern Essex, Virginia

Event narrative

Snowfall totals likely ranged from 3 to 5 inches across eastern Essex County. No snowfall reports were received in Essex County. However, a snowfall total of 6 inches was reported to the west of Essex in Penola within Caroline County. Another snowfall total of 4 inches was reported 1 mile (N) from West Point in King William County to the south. Between nearby reports of snow and the radar presentation, it can therefore be inferred that between 3 to 5 inches of snow likely fell across eastern Essex County.

Wider weather episode

Low pressure moved from the Southern Plains into the Mississippi Valley on January 5 before occluding in the southern Appalachians on the morning of January 6. Meanwhile, a secondary low formed across northern Georgia on the morning of January 6 and tracked northeast through eastern North Carolina and out to sea. This Miller B setup resulted in three phases of wintry precipitation. Phase one occurred late on January 5 when warm air advection aloft from 850 to 500mb lifted north across Virginia and quickly overcame the dry air at the surface resulting in steady light to moderate snow that targeted areas from the I-64 corridor to south-central VA. With the very dry low-level air mass, temperatures quickly dropped to around 30 degrees after the arrival of the precipitation. This allowed the snow to quickly accumulate and with rates of around 1 inch per hour on average. Areas from the Piedmont to the Richmond Metro and even Prince George County and Williamsburg received 2 to 3.5 inches of snow in a three hour period before precipitation changed to sleet and freezing rain due to the warm air advection aloft. This area of snow shifted to the north and weakened a bit before phase two of the storm begun. Phase two of the storm began early on January 6 as the better mid-level forcing for ascent moved northward and a zone of 700mb frontogenesis overspread portions of central Virginia. This allowed for a second area of precipitation to track across areas along and north of I-64, producing a variety of precipitation types. Across the central VA Piedmont where the warm nose aloft was strongest, precipitation fell in the form of freezing rain. At one point, around 50% of people were without power in Cumberland County due to the combined effects from snow and freezing rain. In fact, ice accretions of up to 0.25 inches were observed. Farther north from Louisa County to the Northern Neck, mainly snow was observed with a widespread 4 to 6 inches of accumulation reported. In between from Fluvanna County to Tappahannock, a mix of snow and sleet fell, with combined snow and sleet totals of 2 to 4 inches. Some areas reported sleet totals of 1.5 to 2 inches in just a few hours. A break in the precipitation occurred during the afternoon of January 6 before phase three occurred. Phase three occurred during the evening of January 6 when an upper level feature tracked across the region, resulting in a final round of light to moderate snow moving across Virginia. This snow as generally observed from I-64 northward and produced 0.5 to 2 inches of snow as temperatures dropped back into the upper 20s.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1231919. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.