Winter Storm — Eastern Loudoun, Virginia

2026-01-24 to 2026-01-26 · Eastern Loudoun, Virginia

Wider weather episode

An area of Arctic High pressure resided to the north prior to this storm leaving the region in an anomalously cold airmass. To the south, Gulf of America moisture was brought north by a robust southern jet stream. The intersection of these features resulted in a significant amount of wintry precipitation falling across the eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. This was a Miller B set-up, so warm air was brought north during the event resulting in sleet and freezing rain to mix in. In terms of accumulations, snowfall amounts (which include sleet) averaged 6 to 12. If you separate sleet, a general 2 to 5 inches were reported across the state. Freezing rain amounts of a trace to locally a quarter of an inch were observed as well. To capture the true magnitude of this event, the actual melted liquid with this storm was near 2 inches across the state. Sleet avalanches were reported across the mountains which buried roads with upwards of 10 feet of sleet closing them for days.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1303894. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.