UPDATE Nelson County Life Magazine HERE
***NELSON COUNTY SCHOOLS CLOSED FOR THURSDAY***
Update 11:25 EST
Heavier snow has tapered to light snow in the Rockfish Valley. Look for a gradual change over to sleet and freezing rain in the afternoon. This will continue tonight, but become less intense. Winter Storm Warning is still in effect until 12 midnight as of this update. I expect this to be scaled back in the evening.
-Heavy snow falling in Rockfish Valley and at Wintergreen as of 8:25 AM EST
-Numerous vehicle accidents are being worked across the area due to click roads.
On the mountain at Wintergreen, weather watcher:
John Taylor wrote:
At 8:30 am, it’s snowing on the mountain with about 100 yards visibility.
Eyeballing it, the depth is coming up on an inch most of which fell in the past
hour or so. We had only a dusting overnight.
Current Regional Radar via Wunderground.com
Winter Storm Warning Area Highlighted in Pink, This includes Nelson & Wintergreen
FOR THE VERY LATEST ADVISORY & WARNING UPDATES CLICK ON IMAGE ABOVE
Weathercast by Tommy Stafford, Nelson County Life Magazine
SIT BACK AND
LISTEN TO OUR AUDIO VERSION BY CLICKING THE RED PLAY BUTTON BELOW!
Older version of audio player:
Click the image above for the ski and slope conditions at Wintergreen Resort.
Wednesday’s High/Low at NCL-Nelson County Life Magazine in the Rockfish Valley : 44° / 21°
Wednesday’s High/Low at NCL-Wintergreen Nature Foundation on Devil’s Knob @ Wintergreen Mountain : 40° / 14°
Lots to discuss so we’ll tear right off into the weather. As this was being prepared most of Central Virginia is under a Winter Storm Warning or Advisory through the evening hours of Thursday. Late Wednesday night forecasters upgraded the advisory to a warning. If you have been keeping up with this through the past 24-36 hours, you know it started as a watch, then downgraded to an advisory, and now upgraded to a full fledged warning. I HIGHLY advise to keep checking back here and use the links supplied above for the latest updates. This is a constantly changing system and the watches or warnings are changing on a dime. With that said, it does appear this could be a pretty nasty winter event. According to NBC 29 in Charlottesville, Nelson County School officials already have canceled classes for Thursday.
The current thinking now is that more snow will fall during the day Thursday, with a gradual change over to freezing rain late in the day and night. That complicates things even more adding ice on top of any snow that accumulates during the day. Forecasters are talking about a swath of snow from 4-8 inches 3-6 inches in our area, but keep in mind the more likely areas to get that would be on the mountains vs valley. It’s not out of the question to even see up to 108 inches of snow on the mountains IF we get the timing right. Remember, these kinds of systems are notorious for changing or not playing out as originally forecast, so again let’s keep updating as the moisture to our SW arrives. The regional radar above and the warning graphic are great ways to see the most current changes. I do think the heavier snow for Nelson will not arrive until shortly after daylight Thursday. Lots of dry air is in place and it will take a bit for it to moisten up before snow actually starts reaching the ground.
Overnight Thursday an area of warmer air slowly begins sliding in which will change the snow to sleet & freezing rain. That could make a real mess. Fortunately on Friday we make it above freezing to the mid 40’s before we head into the deep, deep freeze for the holiday weekend. We’re talking overnight lows 10-15 degrees in the valley and around 0-5 above at Wintergreen. BRRRRRRRRR! Daytime highs over the weekend don’t even make it out of the 20’s Sunday for valley highs and 15 to 20° mountains.
OKAY HERE’S THE BOTTOM LINE:
-Winter Storm Warning on Thursday
–4-8 inches 3-6 inches of snow possible valley up to 10 8 inches” mountains particularly north of I-64 along Skyline Drive
-Freezing rain possible Thursday night
-Very cold Temps by Weekend
We continue with our look & listen of local Nelson music artists. The rest of this week and weekend we’ll be hearing tracks from singer / songwriter Lindsey Osborne’s collection. Be sure to check out Lindsey’s info below and stay tuned to hear today’s cut as we head out of weather. Thursday will be a great day to sit inside by the fire and listen to Lindsey’s music!
Regional Current Surface Map via wunderground
Looking Ahead
And for those of you keeping score at home check the detailed numbers at any of our reporting NCL-Weathernet Stations for real up to the minute live weather data and detailed information including highs, lows, wind speeds, rainfall and much, much more, simply use the handy drop down menu on the upper left hand side of your screen.
Your Nelson County Life custom area forecast including: Wintergreen, Lovingston, Greenwood & Faber
Thursday: WINTER STORM WARNING : Snow throughout the day with 3-6 inches possible.
* Highs Valley: 31-34°
*On the mountains: 29-31° Snow beginning near dawn and continuing throughout the day. 6-8 inches possible, more likely north of I-64
*Winds: NE-5 MPH
*OVERNIGHT: WINTER STORM WARNING until midnight – Freezing rain & rain. Lows valley: 29-32° : Mountains: 28-31° : Winds: NE 5-10 MPH
Friday: Some sun & slightly warmer.
* Highs Valley: 44-47°
*On the mountains: 33-36°
*Winds: W 5-10 MPH
*OVERNIGHT: Mostly cloudy and colder. Lows valley: 22-25° : Mountains: 17-20° : Winds: W 5-10 MPH
By the weekend Saturday look for mostly cloudy skies with rain showers valley and snow showers. Highs valley in the low 40’s – mountains upper 20’s Overnight lows dip to 10-15° valley and around 0-5° mountains. Sunday afternoon highs remain in the upper 20’s valley and around 18° mountains. Overnight into Monday morning look for a valley low of around 10° and from 0-5° on the mountain.
By MLK on Monday look for highs low 30’s down below and around 25° mountains. Rain possible again by Tuesday of next week.
As promised Lindsey Osborne takes us out with, a cut from her latest collection of songs. This one is called Chase The Sun.
Have a great Thursday everyone!
Know your Nelson.COM
Today’s cut is Chase The Sun.
Visit Lindsey’s Homepage by clicking right here to learn more about her.
Catch Nelson native, Lindsey Osborne, at Basic Necessities on Friday January 18th and at Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books on Friday March 28th.
