All remains on track for a major winter storm for the Fredericksburg area this weekend.
- Very cold Saturday
- Snow accumulating Saturday night into early Sunday
- Several hours of ice on Sunday
Saturday will be cloudy and cold, but the snow looks like it will wait until after dusk to begin falling. However, temperatures on Saturday will hold near 20 degrees most of the day with a chilly north wind, making it feel about 10 degrees colder.
Snow moves in Saturday night and continues until Sunday morning. Snow accumulates about 4-8 inches by dawn Sunday before precipitation changes over to ice — a mix of sleet and freezing rain.
The sleet and freezing rain continue through most of Sunday as temperatures crawl toward the middle 20s by late in the afternoon, leading to an additional accumulation of about a half inch of ice on surfaces, including trees and power lines.
As temperatures slide into the upper teens Sunday night, expect limbs, branches and power lines to be further weighed down by the ice, likely leading to power outages during the night.
The extent of possible power outages will depend on just how much ice falls on Sunday, but it is more than plausible that areas west of Fredericksburg into Spotsylvania, Stafford and Culpeper counties could have downed trees blocking rural roads, leaving some to go without power for a few days.
No further precipitation is expected through the work week, but it will be particularly cold on Monday and Tuesday — in the 20s during the day and 5-15 degrees at night. This will keep the ground snowy and icy for several days next week, perhaps even into the following weekend. As a result, travel may not be back to normal until the middle of the week.
While early, there are signals for another potential winter storm next Saturday, Jan. 31.
Sean Sublette is a Virginia-based meteorologist and owner of Sublette Weather and Consulting.
