A wintry mess was bearing down on mid-Atlantic states Tuesday with forecasts of significant snow and ice accumulations prompting warnings of potential power outages.
Travel will become treacherous Tuesday through early Wednesday in much of Virginia and West Virginia, according to the National Weather Service.
Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency on Monday ahead of the storm, allowing state agencies to assist local governments. Schools and government offices throughout Virginia were closed Tuesday.
The heaviest snow, up to 10 inches, was forecast in portions of Northern and Central Virginia, and eastern West Virginia. Ice accumulations could range from a glaze in Kentucky and West Virginia to a half-inch in the Roanoke Valley, the weather service said. Power outages and tree damage were likely in places with heavy ice buildups.
“Did you think winter was over? Think again!” the weather service's office in Blacksburg said in a post on the social media platform X. Snow mixed with sleet spread into western Virginia and North Carolina early Tuesday, with snow expected to quickly worsen road conditions in the morning before freezing rain moves in during the afternoon, the office said in posts Tuesday.
Appalachian Power, which serves 1 million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said it has requested 700 additional workers from neighboring utilities to assist with problems by Tuesday morning.
In Northern Virginia, the National Park Service closed a portion of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, a narrow highway that winds its way through woods along the Potomac River. The parkway connects multiple small national park sites and has historically been a trouble spot during winter storms for abandoned cars that created a slalom course for snowplows and other vehicles.
Winter storm warnings extended from Kentucky to southern New Jersey, and a flood watch was posted for a wide swath of Kentucky, Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and northern Georgia. The snow-and-ice mix was expected to become all rain as temperatures climb by Wednesday afternoon.
A separate storm system is set to bring heavy snow from Kansas and Missouri to the Great Lakes on Wednesday, the weather service said.
Dangerous cold was forecast Tuesday from an Arctic air mass stretching from Portland, Oregon, to the Great Lakes.
