Bad, but not three feet

The snowstorm wasn't as bad as expected. But that doesn't mean it wasn't bad.
By Saturday morning, the massive snowstorm had dumped 11.2 inches of snow and ice on Charlottesville, with another 2 to 4 inches anticipated by the end of the storm Saturday night.

The accumulation totals appeared to fall short of the original forecast of 18 to 30 inches because a mass of warm air moved into the area late Friday and turned the snow into driving sleet overnight.

Friday afternoon, some weather prognosticators thought the storm might beat the Charlottesville region's all-time single-storm record of 24 inches, set in January 1922 in what was known as the Knickerbocker Storm because it killed several people in the Knickerbocker Theater in Washington after 3 feet of snow collapsed the theater's roof.

"Around here, a lot of the totals are down from what had been expected because of the sleet," said Jerry Stenger, director of the climatology office at the University of Virginia. "We did not get the feared amount."

Some parts of the Charlottesville region saw slightly higher accumulation totals. Parts of southern Albemarle County, for instance, totaled 14.1 inches by Saturday morning.

Stenger said this weekend's snow fall will likely put Charlottesville on track to surpass its all-time seasonal record of 54.7 inches of snow set in 1995-96. "We're going to be about 7 inches shy of the all-time record," he said. "But we've got two more months of good snowfall season ahead of us here."

While this storm's accumulation might have fallen short of the high expectations, it nevertheless created hardships for thousands of Charlottesville-area residents.

As of Saturday afternoon, Dominion Virginia Power was working to restore electricity to 11,400 homes and businesses in the region. Since the storm began, the company tallied 27,000 outages in the Charlottesville area or roughly half of all customers served by the utility.

Dominion's work crews were chasing an ever-increasing number of outages Saturday as heavy snow and ice felled trees that disrupted power lines and cut off service. As of Saturday afternoon, crews were responding to 151 spots in the Charlottesville region that were in need of repair. Their efforts, however, were hampered by often impassable unplowed roadways.

"Every additional flake of snow that falls is bringing another tree down," said Dominion spokesman Dan Genest on Saturday afternoon. "The best I can say right now is that this is going to be a multi-day outage."

Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, which serves customers in parts of Fluvanna, Orange and Louisa counties, was reporting that an additional 10,000 homes and businesses were without service. Saturday morning, the company reported, an estimated one-third of its service area was without electricity.

Emergency officials in the Charlottesville region reported that there were few serious accidents on area roadways, likely because many motorists opted not to drive and instead hunkered down until the storm was over.

As of noon Saturday, the Virginia State Police were reporting no fatal traffic accidents in the Charlottesville region. Fifteen people were hurt and 172 vehicles were damaged, state police reported. Some 84 vehicles had been disabled.

Emergency officials found several people trapped in their cars overnight Friday and Saturday morning in Albemarle County. Officials reported that these people were in good condition Saturday morning. The county asked National Guard personnel in Hummers to work with county police to check secondary roads for additional stuck vehicles. There appeared to be far fewer abandoned vehicles during this storm than there were during the mid-December "snowpocalypse."

The snowstorm caused serious damage to 84 Lumber Co. on U.S. 29 north near the intersection of Forest Lakes and Airport Road. Half of the company's roof collapsed under the weight of the accumulated snow. No one was inside the closed business at the time and there were no injuries.

The snow from this weekend's storm is significantly heavier than the snow from the previous weekend's storm. The last storm had 12 inches of snow per one inch of water. This storm had six inches of snow per inch of water.

"It's easily twice as dense as last time," Stenger said. "Be careful when shoveling. It's not quite the toss-and-go situation that it was last time."

Several people stayed at Albemarle County's emergency shelter at Monticello High School overnight Friday, but all left by morning. An additional seven or eight people had taken shelter by noon Saturday, county spokeswoman Lee Catlin said.

Downed trees and power lines closed off several area roadways, at least temporarily Friday night and Saturday. As of Saturday morning, West High Street from Altamont to Preston Avenue was closed. The 1100 block of East High Street was down to one lane, but passable. Route 20 north of the town of Scottsville is closed due to power lines across the road. A part of Route 53 was also reportedly closed near the Fluvanna-Albemarle border because of downed trees.

Virginia Department of Transportation officials urged motorists to avoid travel unless absolutely necessary. VDOT reported that the region's major roadways were still snow covered Saturday morning, but passable with extreme caution. Secondary roads, on the other hand, had yet to be plowed and were too hazardous for driving.

"All secondary roads in the region are also in severe condition and will be extremely hazardous due to the deep snow," a VDOT news release said Saturday morning. "Most of those roads have not been plowed and may be impassable in some spots. Numerous trees have been brought down by the weight of the snow and the Virginia Department of Transportation is responding to clear roadways blocked by fallen trees."

VDOT spokesman Lou Hatter said the region's secondary roads likely will not get plowed until after the snow stops. "We're going to begin with the secondary system as soon as we can get equipment there, but it's going to be a slow process."

Hatter said VDOT crews were coping with snow drifts, continuously falling snow and heavy snow that is difficult and slower to move.

Most businesses shut down for the storm in the Charlottesville region, but some did stay open. Saturday morning, Mudhouse, Café Cubano, Christian's Pizza, Beer Run, the Market Street Market and the Bluegrass Grill were all serving customers.

UVa's noon basketball game against Wake Forest also took place Saturday despite the snow. The university offered free admission to students, faculty, staff and up to three guests per faculty or staff member. A good sized crowd showed up, with some fans walking to the John Paul Jones Arena from as many as three miles away.

Area hotels reported heavy bookings because of the storm. The Holiday Inn-University Area on U.S. 29, for example, was sold out Friday night. Cheryl Hill, the hotel's front office manager, said the bookings came from travelers whose flights out the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport were canceled, as well as local businesses such as Kroger and Panera that put their employees up for the night to stay open during the storm. Dominion Virginia Power also booked many of the hotel's rooms, she said.

To check road conditions, consult VDOT's real-time road conditions Web site at www.511Virginia.org. VDOT's network of traffic cameras also provides live feeds of traffic conditions on major highways.