Blue Ridge Life™2012 – Photos By Tommy Stafford : A mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow covered most of Route 151 early Wednesday morning (December 26, 2012) in Nelson County heading through the Rockfish Valley. This was near Rodes Farm Drive just north of Nellysford, VA.
Nelson County & The Virginia Blue Ridge As Tommy forecasted in his daily audio weather, a nasty mix of freezing rain, sleet, and some snow hit a large part of the Central Virginia area from as far south as Roanoke north toward the DC area. In the immediate area of Nelson County and the BRP, about 1-2 inches of the wintry mix fell creating all sorts of travel problems across the area. The Virginia State Police along with local agencies report dozens upon dozens of wrecks as a result of the bad weather.
In the higher elevations, snow can be seen covering the mountainside. This is looking toward Wintergreen Resort in Nelson County, VA as seen from Nellysford.Photo Courtesy of Wintergreen Resort: Up top around 3500 feet at Wintergreen Resort where they already had a ice base of man made snow, mother nature added to it on Wednesday morning. This is outside The Copper Mine Restaurant in the courtyard at the resort.Back in the Rockfish Valley near Greenfield, ice encased many trees as freezing rain settled in for part of the day.By late in the afternoon Wednesday, roads across the area were in better shape with some of the highway showing through. VDOT treatments, traffic, and temps slightly above freezing helped make things better.
Some wintry weather is stil possible overnight Wednesday into Thursday, but will generally end in the early morning hours Thursday. Sunshine with very windy conditions arrive on Thursday. Sun continues Friday before another winter storm makes its way to the Blue Ridge by Saturday.
Via NWS: Many counties (especially those immediately along the western & eastern sides of the BRP) are under a variety of winter storm alerts staring early Wednesday and continuing through early Thursday Some counties have ICE STORM / WINTER STORMS WARNINGS while others have advisories.
Nelson County has Winter Weather Advisory in effect. To see other specific county information click on the map image above.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM WEDNESDAY TO 6 AM EST THURSDAY URGENT – WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
229 PM EST TUE DEC 25 2012
VAZ025-026-036>038-504-WVZ506-260330-
/O.UPG.KLWX.WS.A.0007.121226T0600Z-121227T1100Z/
/O.NEW.KLWX.WW.Y.0020.121226T0600Z-121227T1100Z/
AUGUSTA-ROCKINGHAM-NELSON-ALBEMARLE-GREENE-EASTERN HIGHLAND-
EASTERN PENDLETON-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…STAUNTON…WAYNESBORO…HARRISONBURG…
CHARLOTTESVILLE…MONTEREY…FRANKLIN
229 PM EST TUE DEC 25 2012
…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM WEDNESDAY TO 6 AM
EST THURSDAY…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON HAS
ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR A MIX OF SNOW…SLEET AND
FREEZING RAIN… WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM WEDNESDAY TO 6 AM EST
THURSDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
* PRECIPITATION TYPE…A WINTRY MIX OF SNOW…SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN.
* ACCUMULATIONS…SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES.
ICE ACCUMULATIONS OF ONE TO TWO TENTHS OF AN INCH.
* TIMING…SNOW AND SLEET WILL BEGIN TO OVERSPREAD THE REGION
OVERNIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING. THE SNOW AND SLEET MIXTURE IS
EXPECTED TO TRANSITION TO ALL FREEZING RAIN BY THE LATE
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND END BY EARLY THURSDAY MORNING.
* TEMPERATURES…LOWS IN THE MIDDLE TO UPPER 20S. HIGHS IN THE
LOWER 30S.
* WINDS…NORTHEAST 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH.
* IMPACTS…TREACHEROUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED DUE TO A WINTRY MIX
OF SNOW AND ICE.
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.
Merry Christmas from all of us here at Blue Ridge Life Magazine!
Nelson County, Virginia
As we near the end of 2012, all of us here at Blue Ridge Life (formerly Nelson County Life) want to wish you a very blessed, magical and Merry Christmas! Thanks to each and every one of you for following us over the past 8 years. The next year and our rebranding / expansion will be an exciting time.
We are looking forward to bringing our neighbors in the nearby counties into the pages!
Blue Ridge Life™2012 – Photo Courtesy of Henri & Elaine Weems : Riders from Rodes Farm Stables spent part of this past Saturday – December 22, 2012 singing Christmas carols to people nearby as they trotted across the countryside.
Rodes Farms
Nelson County, VA
Almost from a page decades ago, riders from Rodes Farm Stables spread Christmas cheer by caroling from horseback as they trotted around the the valley areas of Stoney Creek. Henri & Elaine Weems grabbed this shot for us as they came by.
Here is the verbatim press release via Virginia State Police – Richmond
Three adults and a child are dead following a residential fire in Augusta County Friday night (Dec. 21, 2012). The Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Culpeper Field Office is investigating the blaze that destroyed a single-wide trailer on Bolling Heights Lane. Augusta County authorities were notified of the fire shortly before 10 p.m.
Four of the trailer’s five occupants were found deceased at the scene. The deceased include Charles E. Stokes Jr., 40, and Sharon E. Stokes, 47, and their son, Matthew J. Stokes, 9. A grandmother, Wilda J. Stokes, 62, also died.
Wilda Stokes’ husband, Lewis G. Stokes, 67, survived the fire and was transported to Augusta Health, where he was treated and released.
The cause and origin remain under investigation at this time.
Blue Ridge Life™2012 – With 277 people casting a vote in our unofficial BRL online pole, 53% of those responding said no to reducing the current speed to 45 MPH from Route 250 along 151 south to Route 664. Click Image to enlarge and see the results.
Though unscientific the poll does yield some insight into how people might be leaning.
WSET.com – ABC13 Thursday afternoon WSET ABC-13 out of Lynchburg was in Nelson shooting a story about the proposal which is being spearheaded by Peter Agelasto who lives on Route 151 just north of the Route 664 intersection. Click above to view that story.
Specifically 53.43% of the respondents said no in our poll while 42.6% said yes to a reduction in the speed limit. 2.89% were undecided and 1.08% has other views.
3 respondents had other ideas about the speed reduction plan. Click on image above to view those comments.
Peter Agelasto says he hopes to have the petitions filled with signatures by the first of the year. He’ll then present them to the VA legislature for action.
Blue Ride Life™2012 : Photo By BRL Mountain Photographer Paul Purpura : There have been several attempts recently to start putting down snow at Wintergreen Resort, but Friday morning heading into the pre-Christmas weekend the weather cooperated and continual snowmaking has started.
Wintergreen Resort
Nelson County, VA
Several attempts to put down snow at Wintergreen Resort few days haven’t worked out because of warm temperatures. That’s not the case now! After a strong cold front moved across Virginia early Friday morning, temps in the mountains dropped to the 20’s.
Our BRL weather station (above) on Devils Knob at The Wintergreen Nature Foundation showed a temp of 25° around 10:30 Friday morning. Cold temps are expected over the next several days right into Christmas.
There is a developing (significant) storm system that may also affect our area by Christmas night with the real possibility of wintry precipitation. Tommy’s keep an eye on this one as we get closer to Christmas Day.
BlueRidgeLife™2012 – Approximately 75-100 police cars with their blue light going travel down Route 151 in Nelson County, Virginia Wednesday night – December 19, 2012.
Nelson County, VA
People driving along Route 151 and US Route 29 south got a surprise Wednesday night. About 75-100 police cars with their blue lights, and sometimes sirens running, streamed off of I-64, down Afton Mountain on 250 to 151 then eventually south down Route 29. We received countless emails, Facebook posts, and calls here at BRL about the high number of police running emergency down the highways. Many concerned a major incident happened somewhere nearby.
Turns out nothing bad happened and it was all for a good cause.
Via WBZ Boston: A news story of New England police delivering get well wishes to boy with cancer in Virginia. Clicl on image above to read story.
“About 250 officers from all over New England gathered at the Burlington Mall before sunrise to take part in a ride to Virginia.
They went as a group to visit six-year-old Nathan Norman, a young boy in Rustburg, Virginia who is fighting brain cancer.”
Photo courtesy of Heather Chenault Davila : Crews continue battling a fire in the Ambriar Shopping Center in Amherst, VA Monday evening after some type of large explosion.
Amherst
Amherst County, VA
Crews are on the scene Monday evening battling a blaze at the Ambriar Shopping Center after a large explosion rocked the area nearby. Many people on our Facebook timeline have been sharing pictures and reports of hearing the loud boom.
Here is video shot by Travis Fulcher posted to Facebook of the fire then a second explosion around 32 seconds. (Warning some language is strong, but understandably.)
Photo courtesy Teresa Purvis Wright : Another view of the fire Monday night in Amherst County, VA
Blue Ridge Life™2012 – With 277 people casting a vote in our unofficial BRL online pole, 53% of those responding say no to reducing the current speed to 45 MPH from Route 250 along 151 south to Route 664. Click Image to enlarge and see the results.
