Virginia, 2022

Heavy Snow in Virginia, January 6 to 7, 2022

January 6 to 7, 2022 · NWS RLX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

A low pressure system crossed to the south of the Central Appalachians on January 6th, bringing abundant moisture to the area. This disturbance congealed with a cold airmass dropping down from the Upper Midwest and resulted in precipitation to fall as all snow throughout the afternoon and evening hours.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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
2

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 RLX wrote it up.

A low pressure system crossed to the south of the Central Appalachians on January 6th, bringing abundant moisture to the area. This disturbance congealed with a cold airmass dropping down from the Upper Midwest and resulted in precipitation to fall as all snow throughout the afternoon and evening hours. A swath of 6 to 12 inches of snow covered most areas from south of I-64 in northeast Kentucky northeastward across a large portion of West Virginia. Lesser amounts fell along the Ohio River and northwest into the state of Ohio. In southwest Virginia, trained spotters and the local post offices measured around 5 inches of snow had fallen in Dickenson and Buchanan Counties.

Snow began to fall around 2 PM that afternoon with 1 to 2 inch per hour snowfall rates. This quickly laid upon the highways and secondary roads, which posed a nuisance for the evening travel commute on the 6th. All major highways around southwest Virginia observed longer than normal travel times and eventual closures due to slick spots and vehicle accidents. Overnight freezing temperatures and light lake-effect snow showers also resulted in a slow morning commute on the 7th.

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 Charleston, WV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 5, 2:05 PM EST, 21 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 5, 2:05 PM EST, 21 hours 55 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 5, 1:46 PM EST, 22 hours 14 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Dickenson

When
January 6, 12:00 PM EST to January 7, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Dickenson forecast zone
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
37.126, -82.350 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Buchanan

When
January 6, 12:00 PM EST to January 7, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Buchanan forecast zone
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
37.267, -82.036 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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

More

Every storm in Virginia in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Virginia, January 2022

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 992129, 992130.