Winter Weather — Botetourt, Virginia

2012-12-26 · Botetourt, Virginia

Event narrative

Virginia State Police reported that a 35-year old Covington, Virginia woman was killed on U.S. Highway 220 near Eagle Rock when her vehicle slid across an ice covered bridge near Patterson Mill Road and was hit by an oncoming car. The person in the oncoming car was injured, but the injuries were not fatal.

Wider weather episode

An intense upper low and associated surface low tracked from the Tennessee Valley across southwest Virginia and Delmarva region from the 26th into the 27th. A variety of winter weather accompanied the system beginning late Christmas night and continuing into the 26th. Precipitation commenced just before midnight on Christmas Day across southwest Virginia in the form of snow and sleet as a warm front was advancing northeast from the southeast states. Many areas across southwest Virginia, southeast West Virginia, and the mountains of northwest North Carolina experienced one to two inches of snow and sleet accumulation Christmas night and into the early morning hours of the 26th as a wedge of cold air backed southwestward along the spine of the Appalachians. Toward daybreak on the 26th, however, as warm air aloft spread into the area from the southwest on the heels of a strong low-level jet, the sleet and snow changed to freezing rain. Significant ice accumulations, up to 0.25 inch or more, were reported from the Greenbrier Valley, the Alleghany Highlands, and parts of the Southern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and nearby areas along the east facing slopes of the Blue Ridge.

Here are some of the snow, sleet, and freezing rain accumulations reported across southwest and south central Virginia as of the morning of December 26th.

Alleghany county (4E Covington) - 2.6 inches of snow,

Bath county (Hot Springs) - 5.0 inches of snow,

Bedford county (3SW Bedford) - 1.0 inch of snow,

Covington City - 1.0 inch sleet, 0.25 inch ice accumulation,

Craig county (1W New Castle) - 0.7 inch snow, 0.10 inch ice accumulation,

Floyd county (5N Floyd) - 0.5 inch snow, 0.20 inch ice accumulation,

Giles county (Pearisburg) - 0.10 inch ice accumulation,

Montgomery county (Blacksburg) - 0.10 inch ice accumulation,

(5NNE Blacksburg) - 2.5 inches snow/sleet, 0.10 inch accumulation,

Patrick county (5SE Floyd) - 0.10 inch ice accumulation,

Parick county (Meadows of Dan) - 0.40 inch ice accumulation,

Roanoke county (Brookwood) - 0.5 inch snow,

Rockbridge county (Goshen) - 3.0 inches of snow/sleet, 0.30 inch ice accumulation,

Wythe county (Wytheville) - 0.5 inch of snow.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 426291. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.