Farmers Supply in Floyd was open Friday and plans to be open Saturday. (Photos by Doug Thompson)
Winter storm Jonas wasn’t a blizzard here in Southwestern Virginia.
It wasn’t even close.
Most of the snowfalls in and around Floyd County came in short of a foot on the ground during the height of the Friday snowfall and the 1-4 inches that might fall Saturday will leave the area far short of the 30 inches or more that many predicted.
Jonas is hitting areas like Washington, DC, with predicted fury but the biggest threats in Southwestern Virginia Saturday morning is wind-driven drifts and low freezing temperatures with wind chills in the low teens to single digits.
Locally, it could have been worse.
Kevin Myatt of The Roanoke Times reported:
This may go down as the most disappointing 8-14-inch snowfall in the history of Southwest Virginia. Snow fans did not get the historic snowfall that seemed so likely, but yet, snow haters still have a big wintry mess to deal with.
The latest “winter storm warning” from the National Weather Service in Blacksburg (issued at 6:35 a.m. Saturday):
… WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM EST SUNDAY…
* LOCATIONS… MOST OF SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA. ALONG AND NORTH OF HIGHWAY 460 FROM THE NEW RIVER VALLEY EAST TO LYNCHBURG AND APPOMATTOX.
* HAZARD TYPES… SNOW. BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.
* ACCUMULATIONS… ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 2 TO 6 INCHES.
* TIMING… PERIODS OF SNOW TODAY… TAPERING OFF THIS EVENING. BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW THROUGH TONIGHT.
* IMPACTS… ROADS WILL BE SNOW COVERED AND SLICK CREATING HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS AND SIGNIFICANT IMPACT TO TRAVEL. TRAVEL WILL BE DIFFICULT IN MANY AREAS. BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WILL LOWER VISIBILITIES AND RECOVER ROADS THAT HAVE BEEN CLEARED.
* WINDS… NORTHWEST 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 35 MPH.
* TEMPERATURES… HIGHS TODAY IN THE MID TEENS TO UPPER 20S. LOWS TONIGHT 10 TO 20 DEGREES.
* WIND CHILL… SINGLE DIGITS TO LOWER TEENS.
Floyd County sheriff’s deputies and State Police officers were out in force to help Friday, along with rescue personnel and other first responders. An Army Reserve truckload of volunteers came to Floyd Friday to help out.
Area residents start digging out today of a moderate to heavy snow but not a blizzard.
More to come..
The height of the storm on Friday on Main Street in Floyd.
Farmers Supply in Floyd was open Friday and plans to be open Saturday. (Photos by Doug Thompson)