A WIND ADVISORY is in effect from 5PM Friday until 6AM Saturday 2.9.13 for most of the Central VA Blue Ridge area.
WIND ADVISORY URGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
126 PM EST FRI FEB 8 2013
WASHINGTON-EXTREME WESTERN ALLEGANY-CENTRAL AND EASTERN ALLEGANY-
AUGUSTA-ROCKINGHAM-SHENANDOAH-FREDERICK VA-PAGE-WARREN-CLARKE-
NELSON-ALBEMARLE-GREENE-MADISON-RAPPAHANNOCK-LOUDOUN-
NORTHERN FAUQUIER-WESTERN HIGHLAND-EASTERN HIGHLAND-HAMPSHIRE-
MORGAN-BERKELEY-JEFFERSON-HARDY-WESTERN GRANT-EASTERN GRANT-
WESTERN MINERAL-EASTERN MINERAL-WESTERN PENDLETON-
EASTERN PENDLETON-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…HAGERSTOWN…FROSTBURG…CUMBERLAND…
STAUNTON…WAYNESBORO…HARRISONBURG…WINCHESTER…FRONT ROYAL…
CHARLOTTESVILLE…WASHINGTON…LEESBURG…WARRENTON…HIGHTOWN…
MONTEREY…MARTINSBURG…CHARLES TOWN…MOOREFIELD…BAYARD…
MOUNT STORM…PETERSBURG…ELK GARDEN…KEYSER…FORT ASHBY…
CIRCLEVILLE…FRANKLIN
126 PM EST FRI FEB 8 2013
…WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 6 AM EST
SATURDAY…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON HAS
ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 5 PM THIS
AFTERNOON TO 6 AM EST SATURDAY.
* TIMING…LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT
* WINDS…NORTHWEST 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH.
* IMPACTS…THE STRONG WINDS WILL BRING DOWN TREE LIMBS AND CAUSE
SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES. UNSECURED OBJECTS WILL BE BLOWN
ABOUT…AND HIGH PROFILES VEHICLES MAY BECOME DIFFICULT TO MANEUVER.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT WIND GUSTS OF 45 TO 55 MPH ARE
EXPECTED. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT…
ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES.
Via NWS – A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY goes into effect for most of the Central Virginia Blue Ridge area from midnight Thursday until 10AM Friday. Click on map image above for the latest updates.
Central Virginia Blue Ridge Area WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY
Winter Weather Advisory
Statement as of 4:51 AM EST on February 08, 2013
…Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until 10 am EST this
morning…
* precipitation type…snow…sleet and freezing rain.
* Accumulations…1 to 3 inches of snow and sleet…with the
highest amounts near the Blue Ridge mountains. A trace to a few
hundredths of an inch of ice from freezing rain.
* Timing…snow and sleet will change to freezing rain early
this morning before changing to rain by mid-morning.
* Temperatures…upper 20s to around 30 along the ridges to the
lower 30s elsewhere.
* Winds…light and variable.
* Impacts…any untreated surfaces will become snow covered and
slippery for the morning commute…especially on elevated
surfaces.
Precautionary/preparedness actions…
A Winter Weather Advisory means that periods of snow…sleet…or
freezing rain will cause travel difficulties. Be prepared for
slippery roads and limited visibilities…and use caution while
driving.
Nelson County Life – Blue Ridge Life™2011-2013 : Richard Moore – AKA Frog to those that knew him, passed away Wednesday afternoon – February 6, 2013. Above our cover story on Frog from then Nelson County Life Magazine in August of 2011.
Nellysford / Stoney Creek
Nelson County, VA
Some of the happiest times here at our magazine are covering interesting people and telling their story. One of our most memorable is that of Richard Moore who has lived on the north edge of Lake Monacan for years and years. If you’ve ever fished, canoed, swam, or walked the trail there, you know him. Richard, or Frog as his friends knew him, first came to the Monacan around 1948 or 1949 long before Wintergreen. Back then it was a boy scout camp. He was 12 years old at the time.
Our August 2011 cover story written by Jennie T Williams and photographed by Hayley Osborne on Richard Moore (Frog) of Lake Monacan / Stoney Creek in Nellysford. Sarah Leake Shelton (Basic Necessities manager) was one of Frog’s buddies that would stop by and occasionally fish with him. She reflects on those times in the 2011 story along with Frog. Click on the above image to read that story now.
Years later Frog came back to Wintergreen as a police officer, then retired. He would return to the shores of Lake Monacan and lived in the small house just steps away from the water until his death on Wednesday.
RIP Frog, you touched so many lives along the way.
BlueRidgeLife@2013 : Area fire departments from SE Nelson & Amherst County brought a large grass and woods fire under control Wednesday afternoon – February 6, 2013 – on Tye River Road.
Tye River Road
SE Nelson County, VA
Though we’ve had considerable rain a few days ago, the very dry air and low humidity have been the right combination for outdoor fires to sometimes get out of control. A land owner was burning trash Wednesday afternoon on Tye River Road when the blaze got out of control prompting area fire departments and the VA Dept of Forestry to respond. Using a dozer and pumpers they got the blaze under control.
Nelson Emergency Service Director Jaime Miller urges people to use caution when burning outdoors this time of year when the humidity can be very low and vegetation is easily ignited.
Photos Courtesy of The Wintergreen Nature Foundation – Nelson County, VA – Mother nature is putting on an ice show along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Central Virginia. In the higher elevations 3000+ feet where the temps haven’t made it above freezing for several days, the beauty is breathtaking. These were taken along the Blue Ridge Parkway at MP 10 this Tuesday morning – Feb 5, 2013.
Blue Ridge Parkway – Central Virginia
Milepost 10
Thanks to some incredibly cold nights mother nature is putting on a beauty of an ice show along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Central Virginia. The crew over at The Wintergreen Nature Foundation shot these photos early Tuesday morning and we nice enough to share them with us here at BRLM.
Temps in the past 10 days have easily made it down into the single digits along the BRP in the higher elevations. Milder temps are working their way into Central Virginia this week, so the show may not last much longer!
Photo Courtesy of John Howard – Wintergreen Resort, VA : Light snow began covering the ground in the higher elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains Saturday afternoon – February 2, 2013
Central Virginia Blue Ridge As Tommy predicted in his weekend audiocast, light snow began falling Saturday afternoon across the Central Virginia Blue Ridge. By far the only real accumulation was occurring in the higher elevations along the BRP and Skyline Drive. However, light snow is expected to continue into Saturday night so an inch or so of accumulation, even in the lower elevations is not out of the question.
Photo By Tommy Stafford: Snow can be seen in this photo Saturday afternoon as it was making it’s way over the Blue Ridge Parkway mountains headed east into Nelson County’s Rockfish Valley.
More light snow can be expected on and off over the next 2-3 days as additional clipper systems make it through the area.
Blue Ridge Life™2013 : Photo Courtesy of Jenn Rodgers Callahan : Around noon Friday – February 1, 2013 a Virginia State Police chopper flys over Shipman in the Stagebridge Road area.
Shipman
Nelson County, VA
Many people living near the Stagebridge Road area of East Nelson near Shipman reported seeing a Virginia State Police helicopter flying overhead around noon Friday. “We asked VSP to assit us in locating a person that was suicidal, that had been missing,” said Nelson County, VA Sheriff David Brooks.
Sheriff Brooks told BRLM that the person was found alive and transported to an area hospital.
Editor’s Note: Generally we do not report on suicidal events, but since we received so many calls about seeing the VSP helicopter, we made this brief post.
Via CVEC Outage Map: As of 9:15 Wednesday night – January 30, 2012 – numerous customers in the CVEC and adjoining electric system areas were out of power due to high winds that downed a main Dominion Power transmission line feeding several substations across the area. CLICK ON IMAGE ABOVE FOR LATEST MAP UPDATES
VA Central Blue Ridge Area
Updated 9:30AM 1.31.13
Power was restored here at BRLM in Nelson County north of Nellysford around 8:45 AM this time. Others in Afton area as of 9:30 still say they have no power, but it is slowly coming back up. More as we know.
CVEC UPDATE AS OF 9:30 AM 1.31.13
As of 9:30 AM, CVEC crews have made significant progress in restoring power. 1262 member remain without service, down from a peak of more than 7000 last night.
A good portion of the outage were cleared in the areas served by the Martins Store and Piney River substations. Each substation area has more than 500 members awaiting completion of the restoration work
Scattered outages remain in 10 other substations areas with range of 1-42 affected member.
Wind speed will be the wild card in determining how quickly outages numbers will fall and remain at a low level.
Updated 6:22AM 1.31.13
Power dropped again for many people in Nelson around
4:30 AM Thursday morning. Updates as we have them. This outage
does appear relatively widespread from Facebook comments
we are reading.
7:30 AM UPDATE RELEASE FROM CVEC:
As of 7:30 CVEC has 3600 members without power but anticipates reducing that number by 500-600.
Crews are onsite where there is downed wire on a circuit out of the Piney River Substation that feeds Long Mountain in Amherst County.
Crews are also working to repair the Afton circuit out of the Martin’s Store Substation in Nelson County.
When those repairs occur, power will flow through those circuit unless there are fault locations (trees on the line / lines on the ground) beyond the repair point.
New outages are likely to occur today as winds continue to gust and root release occurs due to wet soil conditions.
Members may report an outage by calling 800-367-2832 or online at www.mycvec.com where the outage status map provides current information.
5:30 AM UPDATE RELEASE FROM CVEC:
As of 5:30 AM there are a reported 3300 members out of service with the vast majority in the areas served by the Martins Store Substation (Nelson County) and the Piney River Substation (Nelson/Amherst County.)
Outages peaked early yesterday evening at over 7000 members affected, in large part due to damage to the transmission system that delivers energy to the CVEC substations. Once repairs were made to the transmission system, by repair crews from AEP and Dominion Power, electricity began to flow to members served by the Midway substation, located near Crozet in Albemarle County. At the same time, damage was identified on the CVEC distribution system and to an internal transmission line that feeds the Martins Store substation. CVEC crews worked to make repairs and reduced the number of outages to members served by the Martins Store, Wintergreen, and Laurel Springs Substation in northern and central Nelson County.
Power was also restored to members serviced by the Red Hill substation, south of Charlottesville in Albemarle County and the Piney River substation in Nelson/Amherst.
Crews also made repairs to outages in the eastern portion of the CVEC service territory caused by wind and rain damage.
New outages have occurred overnight, due to continued high winds, affecting many of the same members in Nelson and Amherst counties, along with 108 members served by the Zion Substation serving northern Fluvanna, eastern Albemarle and a bit of Louisa counties.
CVEC will continue with repair efforts and wishes to alert members that new outages may occur until the high winds subside.
Outage information is available at www.mycvec.com and on the CVEC Facebook page. Members should report outages on the CVEC website or by calling 800-367-2832.
Gregory J. Kelly
Member Services Manager
Central Virginia Electric Cooperative
Earlier Post:
High winds accompanying thunderstorms knocked power out to a large area of customers across the Central Virginia area Wednesday night.
CVEC reports nearly 7,000 members without power as of 6:30 PM, with the western portions of Albemarle, Amherst and Nelson County receiving the brunt of the storm damage.
Initial reports indicate that the majority of the outages may be attributed to several known fault locations.
In one area, reports indicate that a tree has fallen on the Dominion Power transmission line that delivers power to the Midway substation in Albemarle County causing outages in the areas served by the Midway, Martins Store, Wintergreen and Laurel Springs substations in Nelson County. When that tree is cleared, service should be restored to most if not all of the members served by those substations.
In addition, nearly 900 members served by the Piney River substation in Nelson County were out of service. Partial restoration has been accomplished and crews are continuing work in that area.
CVEC’s Member Service Manager Greg Kelly said in a media advisory around 6:35 PM Wednesday night.
As of 9:00 many people were still without power, though some residents of Piney River and Roseland told us they got power back around 8:00 PM.
A later update by CVEC at 9:04PM said:
As the majority of the known outages are the result of damages to the transmission system operated by Dominion Power and AEP to the Cooperative’s substations and given that no additional outages have occurred in the past few hours, CVEC is awaiting transmission line restoration efforts by AEP and Dominion and will then determine if repair work is necessary on the CVEC distribution system.
We were running on generator here at BRLM just north of Nellysford in Nelson County for about 5 hours Wednesday night before power was restored at 11:50 PM
Via NWS : Most of the Central VA Blue RIdge area is under a Wind Advisory Wednesday afternoon for gusty winds of 50+ MPH, especially in the higher elevations along the Blue Ridge Parkway & Skyline Drive. The potential for strong storms exists Wednesday afternoon & evening as well.
The Storm Prediction Center in OK has all of VA in the slight risk zone for severe weather, though the majority of the more severe storms are expected to in souther and SW VA into the Carolinas.
After the storms pass through late Wednesday night, winds will shift to the west bringing in much cooler air with temps on Thursday around 45° in the lower elevations and not making it out of the 30’s for highs on Friday. There is a chance for light snow Saturday night.
I’m keeping up with what’s happening to our west and will update as necessary as the system approaches our area.
VIa NWS: A variety of winter weather advisories go into effect early Monday morning for most of the Central Virginia Blue Ridge. This includes a large part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and many counties along and near Skyline Drive.
Nelson County Schools where we are based are closed on Monday January 28 as are those in Buckingham and Fluvanna County Public Schools. Many other area schools are on a 2 hour delay. Our media partner CBS-19 has a complete list here.
A mix of freezing rain began falling in the wee morning hours before sunrise Monday and may continue until midmorning when temps will allow the frozen precip to change over to rain as temps rise into the 40’s.
A major warmup moves in Tuesday with temps in the mid 60’s for vallies and around 50-55° in the mountains.
