Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Virginia, February 5, 2001

Name: Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Virginia, February 5, 2001
Start: 2001-02-05T00:00
End: 2001-02-05T12:00
Location: Virginia

February 5, 2001 · NWS LWX · 9 events in 9 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 6 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 9

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS LWX wrote it up.

Low pressure moved from the North Carolina coast to the Jersey Shore on the 5th and brought rain and snow to the Mid-Atlantic region between midnight and noon. Temperatures were cold enough across extreme Northern Virginia for the precipitation to fall mainly as snow. The heaviest snow fell near the ridges of western Loudoun County where up to 5 inches was recorded. A handful of weather related traffic accidents were reported by Loudoun County officials. Surrounding counties reported between 1 and 3 inches of accumulation by noon. South of a line from Luray to Manassas a rain/snow mix was reported which resulted in little or no accumulation.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 4, 9:00 PM EST, 3 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 4, 9:00 PM EST, 3 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON
900 PM EST SUN FEB 4 2001

ONLY SLIGHT CHANGES MADE TO CURRENT PACKAGE. MESOETA HAS TRENDED
MORE TOWARD AVN WITH HIGHER QPF. THIS GIVES MORE CONFIDENCE THAT AVN
IS MODEL OF CHOICE WITH THIS STORM. AVN HAS 700MB VVEL DEVELOP
RAPIDLY OVER E CWA BY 06Z AND RADAR ALREADY SHOWING FIRST -RA
DEVELOPING SE OF DC. WILL TAKE AFT MIDNIGHT PRECIP TIMING.

1000-500 THICKNESS FCST OVERNIGHT SHOWING 540 LINE STRETCHING FROM
ROUGHLY WAYNESBORO TO IAD TO JUST N OF BALTIMORE. THEREFORE WILL ADD
RAIN/SNOW MIX TO CENT SHEN VALLEY AND EXTEND MIX INTO N AND W
SUBURBS OF BALTIMORE. BUFKIT MESO ETA SOUNDINGS ALSO SHOW TEMP
PROFILE HOVERING AROUND 0C THROUGH 900 MB WHICH MAKES RAIN/SNOW TOO
CLOSE TO CALL IN THIS AREA. WILL MENTION INCH OR LESS OF ACCUM JUST
IN CASE TEMPS GET COLD ENOUGH OVERNIGHT FOR -SN TO STICK. CONS TO
ACCUMULATION...WET SNOW AND RELATIVELY WARM GROUND TEMPS.

STILL LOOKS LIKE RAIN EVENT FROM BWI TO DCA TO CHO AND EASTWARD WITH
WARMER MARINE AIR FILTERING IN ON E WINDS. EXPECTING RAINFALL
TOTALS OF 0.40 TO 0.80 IN THIS AREA THRU MON AFT. QPF VALUES ARE
STILL VERY LOW WEST OF THE BLUE RIDGE...LESS THAN 0.10 IN. THIS AREA
COLD ENOUGH FOR -SHSN BUT LACK OF MOISTURE WILL KEEP SNOWFALL TO A
MINIMUM.

ZONES WILL BE OUT BEFORE 930PM. WILL SEND OUT SPS UPDATE BY 11 PM.

.LWX...
DC...NONE.
MD...NONE.
VA.!..NONE.
WV...NONE.

MMARGRAF

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Feb 4, 9:45 PM EST, 2 hours 15 minutes before

DCZ001-MDZ002>007-009>011-013-014-016>018-VAZ021-025>031-036>042-
050>057-WVZ048>055-050900-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON
945 PM EST SUN FEB 4 2001

...COASTAL STORM TO AFFECT REGION OVERNIGHT THROUGH MIDDAY MONDAY...

LOW PRESSURE OFF THE COAST OF SOUTH CAROLINA WILL MOVE NORTH ALONG
THE ATLANTIC SEABOARD OVERNIGHT AND MONDAY. THIS LOW WILL REACH THE
NORTH CAROLINA/VIRGINIA BORDER BY SUNRISE AND BE LOCATED OFF THE NEW
JERSEY SHORE BY MONDAY EVENING. PRECIPITATION WILL SPREAD INTO THE
REGION OVERNIGHT AS THIS LOW PASSES BY THEN COME TO AN END AROUND
MIDDAY MONDAY FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST. THE HEAVIEST
PRECIPITATION WILL FALL ACROSS EASTERN AREAS WHICH WILL BE CLOSER TO
THE PATH OF THIS LOW.

EAST OF A LINE FROM BALTIMORE...WASHINGTON D.C. TO CHARLOTTESVILLE
THE PRECIPITATION WILL FALL AS RAIN. RAINFALL TOTALS WILL AVERAGE
FROM 0.35 INCHES WEST TO 0.70 INCHES EAST. FROM THIS LINE WESTWARD
TO A LINE FROM FREDERICK TO LURAY TO STAUNTON...TEMPERATURES WILL
FALL TO NEAR FREEZING OVERNIGHT. A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW IS POSSIBLE
IN THIS AREA AND PRECIPITATION TOTALS OF OF 0.10 AND 0.35 INCHES ARE
EXPECTED. BECAUSE ANY SNOW THAT FALLS WILL BE VERY WET AND GROUND
TEMPERATURES ARE RELATIVELY WARM...ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE HELD TO AN
INCH OR LESS.

FROM THE FREDERICK TO LURAY TO STAUNTON LINE WEST TO THE SPINE OF
THE APPALACHIANS...PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS WILL AVERAGE ONE TENTH OF
AN INCH OR LESS. LIGHT SNOW IS EXPECTED IN THIS REGION AND
ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM UP TO TWO INCHES IN THE NORTHERN
SHENANDOAH VALLEY TO A TRACE NEAR THE RIDGES OF THE APPALACHIANS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER
DETAILS OR UPDATES. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR
WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/ER/LWX

MMARGRAF

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

8 winter weather, 1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Loudoun

When: February 5, 12:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Loudoun forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather, Frederick

When: February 5, 12:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Frederick forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.195, -78.213 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Clarke

When: February 5, 12:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Clarke forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.112, -77.997 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Warren

When: February 5, 12:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Warren forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 38.909, -78.207 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Page

When: February 5, 12:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Page forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 38.620, -78.484 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Rappahannock

When: February 5, 12:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Rappahannock forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 38.685, -78.159 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Fauquier

When: February 5, 12:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Fauquier forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather, Prince William

When: February 5, 12:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Prince William forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather, Fairfax

When: February 5, 12:00 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Fairfax forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 38.841, -77.291 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.
Winter Weather: Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Virginia in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Virginia, February 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5233449, 5233450, 5233451, 5233452, 5233453, 5233454, 5233455, 5233456, 5233523.