Heavy Snow, Grayson
- When
- March 20, 1:00 PM EST to March 21, 4:00 AM EST
- Where
- Grayson forecast zone
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 36.657, -81.225 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow in Virginia, March 20 to 21, 2001
The combination of heavy wet snow and strong winds downed power lines resulting scattered power outages.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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 RNK wrote it up.
Heavy snow from the early afternoon of the 20th to the early morning of the 21st accumulated up to 12 inches in the higher elevations.The combination of heavy wet snow and strong winds downed power lines resulting scattered power outages.
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 Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 20, 9:55 AM EST, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 20, 9:55 AM EST, 3 hours 5 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG, VA
955 AM EST TUE MAR 20 2001
***A BLAST UP CONFERENCE CALL FOR RNK TO INITIATE IS ALREADY
SCHEDULED FOR 130 PM WHICH WILL INCLUDE SURROUNDING OFFICES...RFCS
AND SOME NATIONAL CENTERS. WILL ISSUE AN ADM...AND ANY OFFICE NOT
WISHING TO BE ON CAN DROP OFF***
WILL BE UPGRADING TO A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR PART OF THE WATCH IN
SW VA...THINKING THAT THE ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL MOVE IN BEFORE
AFTERNOON ISSUANCE. THIS WILL INCLUDE PATRICK...CARROLL...FLOYD...
MONTGOMERY...PULASKI...WYTHE...AND SMYTH COUNTIES. WILL ALSO EXTEND
THE WATCH EAST TO INCLUDE ROANOKE...BOTETOURT AND ROCKBRIDGE
COUNTIES FOR ELEVATIONS ABOVE 2000 FEET. I AM NOT COMFORTABLE WITH
NO WATCH FOR HIGH ELEVATIONS IN THOSE AREAS...PARTICULARLY PLACES
LIKE BENT MOUNTAIN IN ROANOKE COUNTY.
CURRENT THINKING IS THAT THE FOOTHILLS & PIEDMONT IN NW NC WILL SEE
A PERIOD OF SNOW AFTER LOOKING AT THE GSO SOUNDING AND GETTING SOME
EARLY REPORTS OF SNOW AND SLEET IN WILKES. DON/T THINK WE/LL SEE
ADVISORY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS THERE BY LATE AFTERNOON. WE WILL HAVE TO
CONSIDER AN ADVISORY FOR THE AFTERNOON PACKAGE THOUGH. I WILL BE
LOWERING MAX TEMPS MOST AREAS IN THE UPDATE...AND PLAYING UP THE
SNOW A LITTLE MORE...PARTICULARLY IN THE PIEDMONT WHERE WE HAVE NO
MENTION NOW.
.RNK...
NC...WINTER STORM WARNING THIS AFTN THRU WED NCZ001>002-018>019.
VA...WINTER STORM WARNING THIS AFTN THRU WED
VAZ009-012>017-032.
WINTER STORM WATCH TONIGHT-WEDNESDAY
VAZ007-010-011-018>020-022>024.
WV...WINTER STORM WATCH TONIGHT-WEDNESDAY WVZ042>045.
JJThe radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Heavy Snow
- Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Flash Flood in South Carolina, March 20, 2001
- Flood in South Carolina, March 20, 2001
- High Wind in Georgia, March 20, 2001
- High Wind in North Carolina, March 20, 2001
- Flash Flooding in North Carolina, March 20 to 21, 2001
- Heavy Snow and High Wind in North Carolina, March 20 to 21, 2001
- Winter Storm in Tennessee, March 20 to 21, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Florida, March 20, 2001
- High Wind in South Carolina, March 20, 2001
- Heavy Snow in North Carolina, March 20, 2001
- High Wind in North Carolina, March 20 to 21, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Alabama, March 20, 2001
More
Every storm in Virginia in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Virginia, March 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: 5235474.