Historic Snowstorm Impacts Central VA

The much anticipated snowstorm for Sunday, December 9th dumped more than a foot of snow in Richmond, VA and central VA. Areas to the south and west saw even more snow, with many locations fliriting with the two foot mark. In the days leading the storm, it looked like this would just serve as glancing blow for the Richmond area, however, the day before the storm, it looked increasingly likely that a major snowstorm was on the way. Forecasters across the commonwealth gradually raised their forecasted totals. However, many still predicted about 3-6 inches of snow for central VA, a far cry from the 11.5 inches confirmed in Richmond International Airport. So why did we get so much snow?

Central VA saw these historic snowfall totals for a few reasons...

1. Temperatures were about 3-4 degrees colder than expected

During the winter storm, temperatures were expected to be aroudn 32-34 degrees during the afternoon. This would give a rain to snow ration of about 1:6, meaning we would see 6 inches of snow for every one inch of rain. However, temperatures stayed right around 29-30 degrees for the entire storm, which made our actual snow ration 1:10, about 10 inches of snow for every inch of rain.

2. Heavy snow potential was underestimated

From about 1pm - 4pm, snowfall rates actually exceeded 3 inches an hour at times, quickly piling up the snow for many locations.

3. Longer Duration of Snow

Since the storm track was slightly further north than expected, snow started about 1 hour earlier than expected and lasted about 3 hours longer. This provided more moisture and thus more snow for the area.

Anyways...

This storm will go down in the history books for central VA. This was the second heaviest singly day snowfall in December history, with the snowiest day being in 1908, more than 100 years ago, when 15 inches of snow fell.

Just for some perspective, the average snowfall we see in a year is 10.3 inches, we have already exceeded that from one storm. Below is a map of snowfall totals across the region. Enjoy!