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Monday, February 8, 2010
By MORRIS STEPHENSON - Staff Writer
The third major winter storm of the season hit Franklin County Friday leaving a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain.
It started early Friday morning as snow and dropped about 6 inches before sleet and freezing rain was added to the mix around 1:30 p.m. Then the mix continued off and on throughout the night and until around noon Saturday.
The heavy cloud cover gave way to the sun for a brief period of time Saturday afternoon.
Total accumulations varied throughout the county with the official National Weather Service reporting 7.2 inches.
However, the melted accumulation amounted to .18, which would have been just less than 20 inches of snow if the sleet and rain had not started. The NWS formula used is a tenth of an inch of rain equals 1 inch of snow.
The early arrival of the snow closed schools for the fifth consecutive day, which had been closed all last week from the Jan. 29-30 snow storm.
Not only were schools closed Friday, federal and state government offices were closed along with a number of industries and small businesses.
Virginia Department of Transportation crews were on the job and prepared to move hours before the snow arrived.
Private contractors were called out to assist the VDOT crews, who were working 12-hour shifts by first pushing snow from primary highways. Routes 220, 40, 122 and 116 are in the county's highway system. All other roadways are considered secondary.
Unlike the snow storm in late January, the highways generally were in better condition after the storm passed through.
By Sunday morning, primary roads were actually dry. The only wet places were where melting snow along the roads crossed the roads aided by a mid-30 degree warming sun.
The heavy snow mixed with the sleet and freezing rain brought power widespread power outages in the region. Appalachian Power Company reported more than 2,500 customers were without service Saturday morning in Franklin County.
Major interruptions were reported in the Henry County/Martinsville areas as one of the main lines went down during the height of the storm Friday night.
Snow accumulations in some areas of the county were reported to be 9 to 10 inches of the mix. Of that amount, about 7 to 8 inches of snow were reported before the sleet and freezing rain began later Friday night.
Unlike the last weekend storm that hit Jan. 29-30, this storm arrived in Franklin County about 3 a.m. as a very fine, wet snow started falling. Two hours later, an inch was on the ground.
Another inch had fallen by 7 a.m., however four hours later, the unofficial snow measurement was 6 inches.
Then with temperatures hovering at the freezing mark, sleet and rain mixed in with the snow.
At mid-afternoon, 7 1/2 to 8 inches of accumulation was on the ground, especially in the mountain areas of the county, according to reports received by the News-Post.
The NWS reported 6 inches total accumulation of the mix at 7 a.m. Saturday with another 1.2 inches when the reading was taken at 7 a.m. Sunday.
Starting with the first storm that hit Dec. 18-19, Franklin County has officially received more than 32 inches of snow, sleet and rain this winter. A total of 15 inches was reported left by the first storm, with an additional 10 inches recorded Jan. 29-30 and the 7 inches Feb. 5-6.
It is the most snow the county has received since the winter of 1995-1996, according to the National Weather Service. The official county totals for 13 years ago, however, are not available.
The National Weather Service is predicting another storm, identified as a "wintry mix" for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Forecasters were not predicting Sunday the type or amount of moisture that is expected.
Area schools were expected to be closed again today. |
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